Sunday, December 15, 2019

December 15, 2019




DEAF, DUMB,  AND  BLIND

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 3rd Sunday in Advent [A]  is,  “Deaf, Dumb and Blind.”

THE READINGS

Like you – when I come to Mass - I read the readings – say a prayer – for example, “Lord, give me a message for today – starting with myself!” – and then hopefully – something hits me  - something challenges me.

Today’s first reading – Isaiah 35: 1-6a, 10 and today’s gospel – Matthew 11:2-11  talks about the blind, the lame, the weak, the deaf, the dumb – those who can’t speak – and those with leprosy.

I narrowed it down to 3: deaf, dumb and blind – but I’m moving them to metaphors -  otherwise we might not look or start with ourselves.

We might be blind and think only think of Stevie Wonder – instead of the wonder called me – the wonder called seeing.

In other words, I can be deaf, dumb and blind to today’s  words from Isaiah and from Jesus in Matthew for today.

How many times in life have we heard someone say to us?

·      “What are you blind?”
·      “Are you  deaf?”
·      “Don’t be so dumb!”

And we have our lame excuses for our poverty. There are three more issues in today’s readings: being lame,  being poor and having bad or thick skin. But let me stick with just 3: deaf, dumb and blind.

Want to give a great Christmas present to our family, to our relationships, to our places of work:  Listen, See, and Speak Up, Communicate!

Want a great morning prayer: Go to a mirror – each morning - put our finger on your lips and ask the Lord that we  use our gift of speech today only for good, for building people up. Touch our ears and ask the Lord that we  listen well today.  Touch our eyes and ask the Lord that we see the people whom we’ll be with today – that we really see them and look them in the eye – EYE  and I -  I.

Want to look for a great Christmas gift: Find the 3 monkeys who see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil – in a statue or a T-Shirt.  If you can’t find the 3 monkeys use your bathroom mirror. Practice 5 times each morning: Hands over eyes, hands over ears, and hands over mouth.

The 3 Monkeys are ecumenical: we find them in Confucian, Buddhist and Hindi thought and if we swing around and monkey around, we can find them in Christian and Jewish thought as well.

And notice I’m pushing them in both negative and positive ways: using our mouth, our ears and our eyes for positive interaction with each other  - as well as avoiding hurting each other as well – with our look, with our hearing dirt, gossip, etc. or with our words.

CONCLUSION

Could everyone put your hands on your eyes, your ears and your lips. Amen.

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