Stories of the deaf and hard of hearing. We all know them… and we feel sorry for them. My grandfather ended up living in a completely separate world… very nice, but still separate. It’s easy to see why the healing Jesus performs in the Gospel is so important: to enable someone to hear at last! You’d think losing your sight would be terrible… but it seems deafness is even more so. Not being able to hear the chirping of birds… the voice of fine silence in the mountains… the whisper of a spouse (you can’t declare your love with a megaphone!).

But let’s take this handicapto a new level by looking at the conditions in which Christ performs this miracle: he travels through the pagan countries of the Decapolis.
The pagans have the handicap of not being able to ‘hear the voice of God’…unlike the Jews who, ever since Abraham’s (heard) call, have never ceased to go forward with that first word ” Listen, my Son “… so important that it was taken up as the entrance porch to the Rule of St. Benedict.

In the Old Testament, every time the People of God turn to God to ask to see Him… or that He be willing to show Himself… God responds with the necessary listening to be renewed… “To see” is, at the same time, to listen to God. To ” see ” is at the same time to grasp what we have come to look at… “To listen” is to be obliged to listen… To ” listen ” is to be obliged, right up to the last moment, to be available and dependent on listening… It means remaining dependent on others, and therefore on God.

And by hearing, the healed person can at last rejoin the assembly of the society in which he lives, and from which he had hitherto been excluded.
Jesus Christ heals and the Word of God can at last be heard, the Christian community can be joined, the thanksgiving ascending to the Father can be amplified by a new disciple… etc.

The people the Curé d’Ars spoke to used to complain when he raised his voice during homilies.
To this he replied[1]: When I preach, I often have to deal with deaf people or people who are asleep; but when I pray, I have to deal with the Good Lord, and the Good Lord is not deaf.

In conclusion: we are witnessing a real “miracle”. It is indeed God’s action that opens the heart (conscience, will… ) to welcome the Word!
Is this not the work of Salvation? The deafness of man, wounded by sin and closed in on himself, is so great… that it takes a direct and merciful action on God’s part for man to agree to hear… so much so that this deafness is akin to a hidden pride that wants to remain as its only source, closed in on itself without anyone being able to interfere in the wall… ” there is none so deaf as he who does not ‘want’ to hear ” they say… what a tragedy… Here’s the dilemma : man’s pride… or God’s glory!

I dare say humorously: I think everything, if not heard, is at least said!
And you can understand why your parish priest or rector often tells you the following: if he doesn’t hear what you’re saying, don’t hesitate to come and pull him by the sleeve, out of the way, to tell him again… so that he hears you…
Thank you!

[ 1] MONNIN I 378 [Nodet, 60/169]