Sep 5, 2021 – 1st Reading: Is 35:4-7, Psalm 146, 2nd Reading: James 2: 1-5, Gospel: Mk 7:31-37
REFLECTION
We live in a time of great uncertainty. There is plenty going on that induces anxiety and perhaps fear: the ongoing global health pandemic, thousands of migrants seeking refuge at our borders, and climate shocks that cause prolonged drought, extreme flooding, and uncontrollable wild fires. But we can take comfort in the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Thus says the Lord: ‘Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not!’ ’’ God’s promise is not only that God will save us from these immediate disasters but will go even further. God promises to liberate and protect those who have been downtrodden and excluded for generations. Psalm 146 echoes Isaiah: “God…secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry…sets captives free…gives sight to the blind…protects strangers.”
As people of faith—as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ—we are called to help execute God’s plan, God’s message of hope for all. All of us on the planet are created in the image of God. All are deserving of dignity, respect, and the things that sustain a healthy life—of mind, body, and soul. In the second reading, James admonishes us: we as people who “adhere to the faith our glorious Lord Jesus Christ” are to “show no partiality” between the rich man with gold rings and the poor one with shabby clothes. James reminds us of Jesus’ command to love one another by breaking down all barriers that separate us: social, psychological, and physical.
Like the deaf man in today’s Gospel reading (Mark), we can seek out Jesus to give us ears to listen and eyes to see the walls that separate us. The man, who is deaf and lives with a speech impediment, illustrates how Jesus will respond if only we ask. After begging to be healed, Jesus touches the man’s ears, looks up to heaven and implores, “Be opened!” And although Jesus instructs the onlookers to not tell anyone about the miracle he had just performed, they couldn’t help themselves from going around and shouting: “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
May we be just as amazed by the miracles that Jesus can do for us, if only we remain steadfast in our faith and seek out His love, His justice, His healing power to save us.
PETITION
We pray for our sisters and brothers across this nation and around the globe who are suffering from global climate disasters like extreme drought, flooding, and wild fires. May we seek strength and hope in Christ Jesus who alone has the healing power to give us ears to listen and eyes to see….
ACTION
- Take a walk on a Saturday morning with fellow parishioners and neighbors at a monthly Prayer & Litter Pilgrimage. See https://stpatrickbridge.org/creation-care/ .
- Connect with an organizations calling on people of faith to protect Earth’s land, air, waterways and creatures for generations to come.
- Catholic Climate Covenant: https://catholicclimatecovenant.org/
- Creation Justice Ministries: https://www.creationjustice.org/
- Ignatian Solidarity Network: https://ignatiansolidarity.net/resources/environment/
- Interfaith Power and Light: https://www.interfaithpowerandlight.org/
PRAYER (excerpted from Season of Creation Prayer 2021)
Creator of All,
We are grateful that from your communion of love you created our planet to be a home for all. By your Holy Wisdom you made the Earth to bring forth a diversity of living beings that filled the soil, water and air. Each part of creation praises you in their being, and cares for one another from our place in the web of life.
We recognize our sinfulness in pushing Earth beyond her limits. Our consumption is out of harmony and rhythm with Earth’s capacity to heal herself. Habitats are left barren or lost. Species are lost and systems fail. Where reefs and burrows, mountaintops and ocean deeps once teemed with life and relationships, wet and dry deserts lie empty, as if uncreated. Human families are displaced by insecurity and conflict, migrating in search of peace. Animals flee fires, deforestation and famine, wandering in search of a new place to find a home to lay their young and live.
In this Season of Creation, we pray that the breath of your creative Word would move our hearts, as in the waters of our birth and baptism. Give us ears to listen and eyes to see the needs of our sisters and brothers in this one human family across the globe. Give us faith to follow Christ to our just place in the beloved community. Enlighten us with the grace to respond to your covenant and call to care for our common home.
In our tilling and keeping, gladden our hearts to know that we participate with your Holy Spirit to renew the face of your Earth, and safeguard a home for all.
In the name of the One who came to proclaim good news to all creation, Jesus Christ. Amen.