Deacon Mike Meyer / Sunday, September 8, 2024 / Categories: Blog, Homilies It’s No Secret Homily for the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B My father could not keep a secret. Now, he wasn’t a gossip; he just couldn’t bear the burden of keeping something secret. For example, my father, brother, sisters, and I meticulously planned a surprise birthday party for my mother. Everything was going great, and Mom didn’t have a clue. About a week from the party, Mom and Dad were sitting watching TV together when, out of the blue, my father said in a panic, “OK, I’ll tell you. We’re having a surprise party for you next week.” Mom hadn’t said a word. She wasn’t suspicious; she wasn’t even asking him any questions. He just couldn’t keep the secret any longer. The crowd in today’s Gospel couldn’t keep Jesus’ secret either. But the Good News of Jesus Christ isn’t a secret anymore, and we’re supposed to spread it. In our Gospel passage, Jesus specifically ordered the crowd not to tell anyone that he healed the man born deaf and mute. Apparently, it was a crowd of people like my father because the more he told them not to speak about it, the more they did. Why? Aristotle tells us that humans “are by nature social animals.” We’re neurologically wired to commune with each other. When we do, we’re happier, healthier, and apparently wealthier, too.[1] Part of communing with each other is sharing our stories— our life experiences, histories, and the things we’ve seen and heard—and this was a big story. By healing the man born deaf and mute, Jesus had fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah we heard in our first reading, and the people knew it. It was a secret that was worth telling. The more compelling reason the people had to share the Good News, I think, is that they knew, consciously or subconsciously, that they had encountered God, and they couldn’t keep it a secret. We see this in the mystics. Mystics are people who have profound, intimate encounters with God in prayer and contemplation. Examples include Saints Teresa of Avila, Padre Pio, and our own Catherine of Siena. One common characteristic of mystics is that they feel compelled to share their mystic experiences. They understand that their visions and encounters with God aren’t their own; they’re meant to be shared with all. You see, God is love, so any encounter with God is an encounter with love. Love is dynamic, not static. It has to move, so an encounter with love, an encounter with God, can’t be squirreled away inside us, it must be shared. And that’s where we come in. As I said at the beginning of this homily, the Good News of Jesus Christ isn’t a secret anymore. We’re supposed to proclaim it, and Jesus flat-out tells us to in the Gospels. He says, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). We’re all baptized priests, prophets, and kings (or queens, if you prefer), so one of our jobs is to prophesy. That’s why the same word Jesus spoke over the deaf/mute man is prayed over us at our baptism—Ephphatha—be opened, so our ears will be open to the word of God, and our tongues loosed to proclaim it to every creature. So why don’t we? There are probably as many reasons as people, but I’ll share a few I see and hear often. The first is fear. Religion has become polarizing and politicized. We’re taught never to talk about religion at social gatherings for fear of starting fights, and we’re afraid of being ridiculed or canceled for expressing our religious beliefs. The second is lack of knowledge. More than two generations of Catholics now are poorly catechized. We don’t know enough about our faith to feel comfortable talking about it. Third, we’re not feeling it. We don’t pray, go to Mass, or participate in Adoration or other devotions as much as people did in the past, and it’s impacting our relationship with God. We aren’t encountering God in every aspect of our lives, even though God never stops trying to engage with us. Without those encounters, we have nothing to share. OK, what do we do about it? First, we need to educate ourselves about our faith. Pick up a book, attend Bible study or our adult enrichment programs, watch Catholic educational programs online, and actively participate in our children’s and grandchildren’s religious education. Every Catholic household should own a Bible and a Catechism of the Catholic Church and refer to them regularly. If you don’t know where to start, come and talk to us; we have lots of suggestions. Second, actively participate in spiritual activities. Come to Mass at least every Sunday and Holy Days of obligation. Pray every day. Come to Adoration. Read the Bible, listen quietly, and contemplate what God is saying to you. From my experience, the more I encounter God at Mass, in prayer, etc., the more I find God in every aspect of my life. I intentionally saved fear for last because once we become comfortable with our faith and believe it with all our hearts, the fear tends to go away. Look at the Apostles. They hid in the Upper Room after Jesus died for fear that they’d be killed, too. But once they encountered him after the Resurrection and understood what he’d been teaching them for the past 3 years, they fearlessly preached the Good News to every creature, much to their peril. All but one Apostle died a martyr. Now, I’m not saying you need to die a martyr. While we’re all called to preach the Gospel, we’re not all called to do so the way the Apostles did. We preach the Gospel with our lives, with every act of kindness and charity we extend to others. We preach the Gospel by praying before meals, even in public, and we preach the Gospel by making Mass, our religious education, and spiritual development priorities over work, sports, and lounging around in our jammies. It’s not easy, but the reward is eternal. We will encounter God. We will witness miracles, and we won’t be able to keep it a secret. Almost 25 years ago, I realized that I needed to better educate myself on the faith since we would be raising our daughters Catholic. So I picked up a book, a good book, you might say—Catholicism for Dummies—and I was sold. It fascinated me, and I couldn’t believe how much I didn’t know. That led me to read anything about the faith I could get my hands on. Now, unlike my father, I can keep a secret, but long story short, I found God, I couldn’t keep it a secret, and here I am preaching the Good News. Some may wish I hadn’t picked up that book, but God must’ve thought otherwise. Finding God in my life and preaching the Gospel has made me happier and healthier, though I’m still waiting for the wealth. Preach the Good news, and you will be, too. It’s no secret. Readings: Isaiah 35:4-7a; Psalm 146; James 2: 1-5; Mark 7:31-37 [1] University of Pennsylvania, Omnia: All Things Penn Arts & Sciences” (May 22, 2023), https://omnia.sas.upenn.edu/story/science-being-social. Happy Faith Print 336 Please login or register to post comments.