by Cardinal Sebastian Francis
Isaiah 35:4-7
Psalm 145:7-10
James 2:1-5
Mark 7:31-37
Theme: He Makes the Deaf Hear & the Dumb Speak
On this cool and wet evening, what is the Holy Spirit saying to these 37 ‘bintang-bintang’ (stars) of today and to all of us?
Well, let us go to the First Reading. What is the Holy Spirit saying through the Prophet Isaiah?
When you walk in the spirit like the great Prophet Isaiah, you begin to dream. Dreams become an important part of your spirituality and you begin to see visions. Visions become an important part of your spirituality. And the great Prophet Isaiah says to you 37 stars:-
Courage. Do not be afraid. Courage, do not be afraid. See your God is coming.
Do not be afraid to dream. Young people, do not be afraid to dream. Do not be afraid to see visions. Do not be afraid like the young Prophet Isaiah.
And what did he see? These dreams, these visions, this spirituality involves your body. Don’t leave your body aside. Involves your feelings, your thoughts, your emotions and beyond that what the Spirit is saying through your body, through your feelings, through your thoughts, through your imagination?
This dream of Isaiah, vision of Isaiah involves the eyes, involves the ears, involves the feet and involves the tongue. Nothing is left out. The Spirit can use anything and everything created by God.
And then this dream and vision of Isaiah involves lots of water. Water that is gushing into the deserts, into the wastelands. The earth is scorched. We are told that this is the hottest year ever recorded in history.
So there is a lot of water involved in this dream and vision of Isaiah. And water always reminds us about baptism. Back to basics. Back to baptism. So that is the Prophet Isaiah.
What about the psalm? The Responsorial Psalm again speaks about courage. Yeah, it speaks about with this kind of courage that Isaiah speaks about, the courage to dream, the courage to see visions, the Holy Spirit will lead you down that path.
The Psalmist says as we see within ourselves, don’t be afraid to look within. There is more than sin in each one of us. So don’t be afraid to look within.
As we look within and as we look beyond, with the Holy Spirit, our souls will give praise to the Lord. Praise will become part of your spirituality, part of your lives.
Now let us go to the Second Reading. It is from the Apostle James. Well, there is no apostle more ‘turun-padang‘ than the Apostle James. He is really down to earth, goes straight to the point and he tells you:
Stop wasting your time and energy making endless divisions and making distinctions between people, between rich and poor, young and old, etc, etc.
Missionary disciples who are led by the Holy Spirit can embrace all diversities, diversities of race, language, culture, religion, philosophy, personalities, the diversity between young and old, the diversities between rich and poor because the Holy Spirit who led Isaiah, who led James, who will lead us, the 37 of you and the rest of us, the Holy Spirit is creative, the Holy Spirit is inclusive and the Holy Spirit builds bridges.
So thank you James, thank you Isaiah for speaking to us with such clarity, Hundreds, thousands of years after these people have come and gone.
So let us move on to the Gospel.
Dear young confirmands, young evangelists, young missionaries, young prophets, I say to you today what Jesus said to a deaf man, a man with a speech impediment and in his own mother tongue, in Aramaic, He said one word. And we all need to hear that one word from the Pope down to each one of us. And that one word He said was (in Aramaic, His mother tongue): Ephphatha. And that means be open. Be open. One of the signs of the Holy Spirit present in our lives is:
Are you open or is your world becoming smaller and narrower and you are closing up?
Be open and listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you, is saying to your friends, is saying to your family, is saying to your church every day.
Try what the Synod is introduced to the whole church and we did it at the Regional Pastoral Assembly in Johor Bahru recently: Conversations in the Holy Spirit. Not endless debates and arguments and discussion.
Well, there is a time for that in the coffeeshops but get involved with conversations in the Holy Spirit. And indeed a spiritual revolution is taking place.
So, let us respond to God’s word. And when you are led by the Spirit, you can go beyond boundaries, the boundaries of space and time. You can travel with Pope Francis to Indonesia, to Papua New Guinea where he is right now, to East Timor and to Singapore. You can cross boundaries. Otherwise your world will become smaller.
The only way to open up is to allow the Holy Spirit to enter deeply enough into our lives. So, indeed I always say this wherever I go: Join the winning team. And the winning team is a team that is creative, inclusive and bridge building.
Yes, most of the world is closing up, is creating more boundaries, more distinctions, putting more fences. That is their problem.
If the church has to offer some hope to the world, it will only come through the Holy Spirit. So join the winning team, Team Holy Spirit.
God bless you and I end with the words of Jesus to the 37 of you: Particularly, everything begins with ephphatha.
When you listen, then things begin to move because your ears are wide open to the promptings, to the whispers of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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