“Extraordinary kindness,” “Unmatched Generosity,” “Above and Beyond.” Seeing and hearing those terms can cause the most cynical individual to stop scrolling and click on the story, if for no other reason than to decide if the details support the headline.  A few years ago, a group in California seemed determined to succeed at that task in celebration of the 100th anniversary of their community foundation.  They compiled what was called “Portraits of Compassion” and highlighted 30 individuals they called “unsung heroes” who did incredibly selfless acts to help strangers in need.  The stories were fascinating – and included some things that we might expect to see, but are no less extraordinary, like a retired teacher who turned her boredom at being home and her love of cooking into just making meals for people who were homeless in her community one day and now is organizing a group of other retirees making up to 200 meals… others volunteering in nursing homes, prisons…

Thanks so much for stopping by to read this homily for the 23rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, September 8, 2024.  I appreciate your sharing this on your social media posts and your feedback and comments…  I’m also grateful for all those who’ve asked for the audio version and share them as well at SOUNDCLOUD click HERE or from ITUNES as a podcast HERE.  May the Lord be glorified in your reading and sharing- Father Jim

A few stood out for their creativity in seeing needs and solutions in ways we might not expect.

Steve Danz, an airplane pilot, and a bunch of colleagues created what they call “Angel Flight,” where they volunteer to fly patients who need specialized, non-emergency medical assistance to their appointments for free, offering executive-class style.  Danz reflects on their mission: “We treat the patients with dignity and make them feel special.  They fly in executive-class airplanes, and the pilots treat them like royalty.  The real human element is that their worth is acknowledged.  They’re no longer suffering silently.”

Santiago Ortega took one of the worst experiences of his life, having to navigate the trauma of having his son get shot 8 times and the difficulty of getting the care and attention he needed and deserved into a motivation to be an advocate for others.  He started to volunteer in the Intensive Care Unit at St. Francis Medical Center in Los Angeles in the Patient Advocate Office, creating what is described as a compassionate listener program.  Being able to relate to what other families are feeling at some of the most stressful, fearful moments of their lives, he can accompany and assist patient families as a mediator, which caught officials’ attention when they realized the number of complaints the hospital would typically receive markedly decreased.

Robert & Jeanne Segal, who experienced a parent’s worst nightmare with the devastating loss of their daughter Morgan due to suicide, turned their grief into action.  They thought that if more people had access to professional self-help information, they could help prevent some of these tragedies by empowering people to help themselves create better mental, emotional, and physical health.  They created a website that now tops over 65 million visits per year and continues to increase and expand its reach.  When interviewed in 2016, they said, “We are 82 and 76 years old and more excited than ever.  The creative process constantly delights us.  We work with highly talented young people and savor the results.  The goals set in 1999 are fulfilled beyond our wildest dreams.  And we’ve been told that Helpguide.org has saved many lives.”

There’s a reason why stories like that touch and inspire us, and hopefully motivate us.  The selflessness, sacrifices, and care for people unable to pay it back in any way reflects something transcendent, almost divine.  In these everyday people’s beautiful stories, we catch glimpses of the extraordinary truth of how God loves humanity.

Or more specifically, more intentionally, more directly – how Jesus Christ, God incarnate, loves you and me.

A lot of people find it hard to believe that.  On an intellectual level, a Catholic Christian might view it as a belief held collectively.  They may comprehend it to some extent as they gaze at the crucifix and realize that the death of Jesus on the Cross to save us from sin and death is the ultimate gift that we could receive.  However, at times, it seems it feels distant from my day-to-day experiences.

This is why this Gospel is so beautiful for us to encounter.  On first reading it, you might be thinking, “ok, cool, another Jesus miracle story… nice. It’s a nice thing that he took care of this deaf and mute guy.”  But there’s a little nugget that St. Mark opens the story with that’s seemingly a throw-away line that tells us a lot more to the story.  “Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee into the district of the Decapolis.”  The seemingly extraneous travel itinerary is actually incredibly telling.  This journey was completely out of the way. It was an indirect route that would’ve meant Jesus would have had to travel for weeks (possibly months) just to reach this place.

We don’t know for certain why Jesus goes out of His way to this next stop on His journey.  However, for the apostles and disciples who witnessed all of this firsthand and recounted it, was notable that after that lengthy trip, the first thing Jesus does is He cures this man’s affliction.  And not in any ordinary, miraculous way.  But intensely, specifically personal in a couple of ways.  First He takes Him away from the crowds… This isn’t meant to be some show or performance to entertain the masses.  There’s a soul who’s been weighed down by physical obstacles for far too long.  Then look at how Jesus heals the man.  Probably, as we heard those details today, we kind of thought, “gross” as Jesus puts his fingers in the guy’s ears and spits, touching his tongue as He restores the man’s hearing and speech.  Why was that?  I mean, we’ve heard stories of Jesus feeding over 5000 with a few loaves and fishes – water being turned into wine – people being brought back from the dead simply with Jesus’ words being spoken.  So, it’s not like Jesus had to perform this miracle in this way.

But perhaps Jesus was going out of his way to reach out to this man to reveal in an intensely personal and intimate way – through the gentle touch for a man who couldn’t hear or speak:

God is thinking about you.

God sees you.

God knows the pains, the weaknesses, the brokenness you’re suffering from.

God dreams of your perfect joy and fulfillment.

God desires your fullness of life – here and now and for all eternity.

God loves you.

God goes out of his way on this particular day to say all this and confirm all of this in these amazing miracles to this man.  Just as God will do go to the most exraordinary means imaginable on the Cross to say that to all humanity.

The sad reality is that this is a message many don’t feel, don’t recognize, or maybe don’t even believe in.  Maybe that experience of Jesus seems removed or forgotten.  Maybe you’re going through a really rough time right now that makes it hard to believe, to remember or perceive these things about God.  Maybe the stories of scandal and corruption in the Church has been such a blow to your faith that it challenges believing in anything.

For those of us finding ourselves in that space, Jesus is coming for you.  He does not abandon us – but what is key is that we have to keep looking for Him, waiting on Him.  Jesus’ already went to Hell and back for us.   And He’s promised us that Hell won’t prevail against His Church, despite the failings and failures of those who were supposed to act in His name.

And that’s where Jesus is counting on those of us whose hearing and speech He has already touched to go out of our way for those who are suffering, who are skeptical, who are troubled by doubts.  In that reality, this whole story of Jesus’ indirect route to this place and the miracle he performs reminds us that discipleship calls each of us to go out of our way and to listen and to speak out.

To listen to people’s pain. To listen to their fears.  To listen to their doubts. To listen to their cries.  To listen to our own.   But then even more to listen to Jesus… To listen to Him in prayer… To listen to Him with the ears of our hearts so that we can then speak… Speak words of truth, Speak words of justice, of accountability. Speak words of forgiveness, of healing… of God’s eternal, unwavering, selfless, unconditional love.

It’s when we do that, people begin to experience in real time those prophetic promises of Isaiah in the first reading realized – “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped… For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.”  The poetic imagery is fulfilled in all sorts of ways as people go above and beyond what is expected and become not just everyday heroes but participating in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.  Disciples who testify and witness to the depth and reach of His amazing love by transforming our homes, our families, our campus with the same generosity and care He shows us everyday.