September 8
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
“Praise the Lord, my soul!”
Readings
Reflection
We are told in this week’s readings that our God is a healing God. Both Isaiah and the psalmist who wrote Psalm 146 testify to the works that Jesus does hundreds of years later, saying that the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the deaf will hear. What we need to realize is that there are different kinds of blindness and deafness in our world. There are those who are blind to their own sinfulness and deaf to the cries of those who need their assistance. It is important for us to make an assessment of our own ability to see and hear what is going on around us.
There is an Ignatian practice that is called the Examination of Conscience. It is a process that takes place at the end of each day where we think through the interactions we have had and decide where we have or have not seen the hand of God in our lives. This includes our own actions where we have recognized the need to help others as we pass through our world. Among the questions we can ask of ourselves are these: Have I prayed for those around me? Have I given of my time, talent, and treasure to those who are in need? Have I made the lives of those around me a little better today? Even if our answer is no to some of these questions, we can grow closer to God by continuing to ask them in an effort to grow closer to being the faith-filled and generous people he asks us to be.
God truly does make the blind see and the deaf hear. Often though, the way these things happen is through our own willingness to see ourselves clearly.
Keep the faith,
Deacon Dare
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