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For the last few days - after reading the passage from Isaiah - I've been wandering around singing Handel's setting of the text from "Messiah" - ah, but don't worry, I'll spare you the experience and, after all, it's written for an alto and that's not me.
Isaiah is proclaiming the signs of the presence of the Messiah, the Christ, those events that will mark the new age: blindness and disability healed! And the Gospel account from Mark shows Jesus actualizing the prophecy. Jesus is Himself the healing presence. He makes the deaf hear, the mute - and in other accounts, the blind see and the lame walk. Healing and wholeness reveal the Reign of God and the Presence of the Christ.
Every day, virtually every hour these days, we are flooded with radio and TV news, blogs, magazine articles, opinion polls about efforts for healthcare reform. It's a passionate conversation - after all, everyone has a stake in it. In some form, the state of healthcare in this country is a concern for every one of us.
This little blurb has been making the rounds on Facebook:
"No one should die because they can't afford healthcare
and no one should go broke because they get sick - and
furthermore no one should be afraid to change careers
because of dependence on their employer-related health
insurance…."
Fr. Jim Baraniak, O. Praem. saw that on my Facebook "status" and said, "My, you're getting a little political these days." Actually, no - it's not "political"; it's pure Gospel. I don't pretend to know how we can make this happen. I don't have the experience, the knowledge or wisdom to sort out the ways and means of making decent healthcare available to all - and that's where politics comes in. Honest people will disagree on how to reach this goal. But it is clear that the possibility of wholeness and healing for all is a sign of God's Reign. This is the Gospel mandate that Christians cannot ignore.
The Letter of James is also clear that among Christians there should be no distinctions based on wealth or lack of it. "Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?"
When Jesus heals the deaf and mute man, there is more going on than that physical healing, as important and real as that is; it is also a spiritual reality. Jesus says, "Ephphatha, be open" to each of us…. that we might hear the Gospel and hear the cry of the poor and then proclaim good news, not only with our lips but with our lives: We must make the reign of God real - in Jesus' Name.
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