Divine intervention

TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
September 5, 2021

This week’s readings center around providing healing to the brokenhearted, the wounded and the down trodden. Through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah, in the first reading, God promises strength to the frightened, and sight to the blind. Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of the promises of the Father. In His ministry, the Word Incarnate brought God’s love and mercy to those most in need of it. In today’s gospel we see how He dealt graciously with the man who was deaf and had speech impediment. He used every resource available to Him to convey God’s infinite mercy, especially to the seemingly hopeless. Our world is in need of so much healing today. We certainly need Jesus at every moment of our lives, but it is obvious we need Him now more than ever. There is so much brokenness, so much desolation, so much anxiety and pain, so much sadness and hopelessness. We see that in the frequent loss of lives, in the prevalence of hunger and disease, in both man-made and natural disasters, from Afghanistan to Haiti, and to Louisiana, where people are feeling powerless in the face of crippling natural disasters. Our world is definitely in need of divine intervention. Yet, as we pray and hope for what God can do for us, it is important that we do not fail in those things that we can do for one another: A kind word, a warm smile, a gentle attitude, a helping hand, and a prayerful thought. We can each decide to reach out in love to someone who is hurting, hungry, sick, lonely or afraid. You can be that good neighbor, that instrument through whom the love of God is made available to His sons and daughters in need. May God strengthen us as we work to be messengers of divine healing for a world in need. Amen.