Vulnerable. "Ida", "Idols" (2021-09-05, Sunday - 23)

__CLICK HERE: AUDIO OF SUN. SEPT. 5, 2021 HOMILY__

Homily – September 5, 2021  /  23^rd Sunday (Year B)

● Isaiah 35:4-7a   ●   Psalm 146    ● James 2:1-5  ●  + Mark 7:31-37  ●

Title:  Vulnerable. To Ida (real storm). To Idols (false gods).

[__01__]  Are you vulnerable? Are we vulnerable? Yes, we were vulnerable to Hurricane Ida of 2021, to the real storm, wind, rain, which did terrible damage and took the lives of more than 40 people in our area.

          We were vulnerable here at Lourdes, even noticing that the force of the water building up actually busted through a door downstairs, and we have had some clean up to do. I am very grateful to our cleaning crew, parish staff and also to the West Orange Fire Department who visited us to pump water out of confined spaces.

          We were vulnerable.

          And, vulnerability means that you are can be the, so called, “sitting duck” or the unprotected goal that the other team will “rain” on, if we don’t get our defenses together.

          Being vulnerable, being capable of being physically or emotionally wounded, we want to put up our defenses, our guard, or guardrails.

[__02__]  Who is vulnerable in the Gospel reading?

          St. Paul famously wrote in 2^nd Corinthians that  “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  (2 Corinthians 12:9)

          There is weakness, vulnerability, in the form of the deafness of the man in the Gospel.

          I’d like to touch on this in 3 ways…

[__03__]   [1^st. Pleading for assistance from J.C.]

[2^nd. Providing assistance by J.C.]

[3^rd. Protection of secrecy.]

[__04__]     [1^st. Pleading for assistance from J.C.]

First, the pleading and begging.

Do your remember Hurricane Henri ? That was the one right before Ida, in mid August. 2 weeks ago. I almost forgot about the storm force of Henri because Ida was so bad.

But, we were vulnerable to Henri even before Ida. During Henri, a a piece of our school roof blew off during Henri and it seemed that we had very little time to get it fixed. This where my feelings of vulnerability turn to panic… and desperation.

So, I had to plead for help from our parish staff, from the Archdiocese, from a contractor… and the good news is – I asked and it was answered.

And, in the end, I also realized that all I did was ASK…I did not make the repair or remediation. Other people did the work, and helped us to be safe.

          But, this reminds you and me to keep asking for help, for aid, when we need it or even if we are not sure what the solution is. I did not really know !  The actual structure and solution turned out to be entirely different – from what I thought it was. 

          I needed the truth and truthfulness to TRANSCEND the situation – God’s word is transcendent for us as well, to help us transcend, to forgive someone who has hurt us, to recognize our need for God’s mercy, to love our enemies, and more..

We may not get an immediate call-back. We also are called to keep our prayers and prayer intentions.

          Sometimes, we do not know what to pray for or how to pray. St. Paul has some advice for us in our 911 of vulnerability in the dark, reminding us that the Holy Spirit is still present:  “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26)

          The man in the Gospel pleads for assistance, for help. Is there, perhaps, an irony that a deaf person wants to hear. I mean it’s a reasonable request, given that – in Jesus’ day – his deafness was a severe deficiency that left him marginalized and abandoned by many.

          Then again, if he is deaf and has never “heard”, he does not know what he is pleading for.

          There is “pleading for assistance”

          Now, I’d like to touch on the PROVIDING of the assistance.

[__05__]      [2^nd. Providing of the assistance by J.C.]

Jesus provided assistance – healing and hearing - to the deaf man, the deaf man. The deaf man signifies you, and signifies me. How does Jesus provide the assistance?

He touches the man's ears, he touches his tongue. And finally the man speaks. One of my teachers pointed out the irony, the ironic characteristic of this episode, it's ironic that Jesus touches the man's ears, nothing happens. Immediately he touches the man's tongue, nothing happens immediately. Finally, Jesus says the words “Ephphatha” or be opened, the man who is deaf now hears him. It's almost as if the other techniques of touching his ears were not enough, or we're just preparatory exercises that the word brings help.

We read that the man was begging and pleading for assistance, pleading for aid for help. I'd like to compare the deaf man and his begging to any one of us who may need to turn away from something that is preventing us from hearing our Lord and Savior from hearing God's word.

In the past few days – after Hurricane Ida and the devastating rainfall and storm --  something has prevented me the past week something has definitely prevented me from hearing God's word.

And, while I would like to blame it on the RAIN…or blame it on the rage of this 2021 Hurricane known as “Ida”…the problem is not Ida “out there”, the problem really is the IDOLS “in here.”

What do we mean by an “idol” in our faith journey?

An IDOL is a false good and something that is visible, but also lacks substance.

Almost, by definition, “money” can be an idol, because MONEY has no substance or meaning on its own. It only has value because we buy things with it. 

Nevertheless, MONEY can be a false god, something without substance.

I've noticed in myself three things that I've idolized not just for the past few days …but really for many years.

I definitely idolized them this week, polished them up, put them on display!   What is the problem with an IDOL ?

As we read in the 115^th Psalm an idol gets in the way of true love an idol gets in the way of God.

We may use the noun “idol” or the verb “to idolize” in casual way, such as to idolize one’s parents or grandparents or a good friend, to describe – in a casual way – someone whom we admire or like.

But we're in danger if the object of our affection or admiration, whether a person or thing becomes a controlling force in our lives. That’s the definition of an idol.

We read this in Psalm 115, about idols. “their idols are silver and gold. They have mouths but they cannot speak. They have ears but they cannot hear.”

So what has become the idol that cannot speak? Or what has become the idol that cannot hear?

These are the three idols for me.

MONEY.  MANAGEMENT. MISERY.

1^st. MONEY.  Money. Saving the parish money is a good thing. And saving the parish money is on my mind due to being vulnerable, potential repairs, cleanup post- Hurricane.  And there are you know, you know. Hurricanes remind us of things that may or may not be covered by insurance.

Hurricanes remind us repairs and things we need to fix. It's not a bad thing to save money, but sometimes even the desire to save money can hold us back from doing what's necessary or maybe doing what's necessary right now. Sometimes I idolize MONEY, even the money in the bank for Lourdes, or the official income statement or balance sheet. That becomes an idol.

2^nd. MANAGEMENT.  “Management” or the ability to manage myself, my schedule is an idol, my desire to have my own way. And Hurricane Ida and all of its weather implications reminds me I am do not select the cause or the effect. I am not in charge of the world.

This distresses me. Management is a good thing to have power. Management can be good, but sometimes we idolize power and I forget easily that “God’s power is made perfect in weakness”…not just a theoretical weakness, but my own where God delivers what I cannot or will not do on my own.

3^rd. MISERY.   This is the most embarrassing one Perhaps the most honest one, MISERY is an idol.

And, as the old saying goes – misery loves company …. Now misery is not necessarily not a bad thing.

The Latin / Spanish / Italian word for “mercy” is based on “misericordia”. Mercy = misery of the heart.

And, we are called to have compassion on those who are miserable.

The Lord hears the cry of the poor, Blessed be Lord. (Psalm 34). 

But feeling sorry for myself amid certain challenges when I could and should give thanks for the many blessings and support. Well, that’s and MISERY and can be an idol. I can idolize MISERY. And we have received many blessings during Hurricane Ida, not the least of which the West Orange Fire Department came to help us in our time of need. But I can idolize MISERY  just as I idolize MANAGEMENT or MONEY.  Turning them into idols, I could have an insatiable desire for them.  I will sacrifice to get them I will put them ahead of Almighty God and in the spirit of Psalm 115, they are idols which do not speak. They have mouths which do not speak they have ears which do not hear and I am in danger of being deaf in the same way.

So what's the solution? to this idealization? What's the solution to this deafness? What's the solution?

  [__06__]    [3^rd. Protection of secrecy] 

Finally, we read that Jesus provides the help in secret, to the deaf man.

There is a PRACTICAL and PERSONAL spiritual reason for this “secrecy”.

First, the practical.

Now, in the context of the gospel of the timeline of Jesus's mission, this secrecy is something strategic on Jesus's part that he does not want his movement to be stopped by the Roman authorities, especially the Roman authorities too soon, if he's picked up as the picked up on their radar screen, or on their intelligence, Homeland Security, as a potential Messiah, they may stop his movement, they may arrest him in the first few months of his movement, but he needs yours in order to educate his disciples, and then he will submit himself to their arrest. And actually, this submission to their arrest will be a big part of next Sunday's gospel. But for now, he's urging secrecy.

Second, the personal.

Jesus urges his personal secrecy because he wants each of us to know him secretly, personally, deeply, especially when we feel vulnerable.

And, Jesus urges that our faith not be based on spectacular miracles, but on our knowledge that we can plead for his assistance, that we will be provided with assistance when we ask that he is also protecting us by his mercy.

The Messiah is a secret. The Messiah really isn't a secret in the official sense that we don't want anybody to know about it. But the Messiah is a secret to the extent that all of us are called to have a personal relationship with Him. And you and I don't know exactly how Jesus works in everybody else's life. That's part of the secrecy that's part of and others don't necessarily know how Jesus is working in our lives.

But nevertheless, that secrecy helps us to grow it helps us to grow in faith.

Yes, we are vulnerable, sometimes lack the strength we would like. Thus we pray, we are here. For …  “God’s power is made perfect in weakness.”  (2 Corinthians 12:9)    [__fin__]