Reflection for the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time Sept 2024

A father will never forget the meeting:

“I sat across from the psychiatrist, holding my wife’s hand as our two-year-old son played inattentively in the background.

“’The severity of your son’s autism will likely prevent him from ever being independent.  It is very possible that he will never speak or have friends.  The comorbidity of mental retardation will compound these challenges.’

“The psychiatrist paused and examined our expressions.  My wife clenched my hand a little tighter, but she, too, smiled because we knew first-hand that the diagnosis was meaningless:

“When I was three, a psychologist told my parents the same thing about me.”

[Brian Mayer, writing in Reader’s Digest, March 2012.]

Throughout the Gospel, Jesus calls us to remain open — ephphatha — to the possibilities for transformation through selfless love, for re-creation that is enabled by humble generosity, for restoration that can be brought about by patient acceptance and understanding.

In times of grief, fear and despair, we can be “deaf” to the presence of God, isolating ourselves from God’s compassion and hope in the midst of such pain — but this dad has discovered such transforming hope in his own life, enabling him now to deal with his son’s condition with optimism and hope, well aware of the hard work before them.

May ephphatha become our prayer: that we may be “open” to the presence of God in times of both joy and sorrow, enabling us to bring the compassion and mercy of God’s presence into our own lives and every life we touch.