Be strong, fear not! Here is your God and He comes to save you

Pastor’s Pen
St. Augustine Catholic Church
Sunday, September 5, 2021
Twenty-third Sunday of Ordinary Times

Dear Church Family,

Notice the strong affection that the Lord has for everybody, especially putting on a pedestal the really broken people in life, the real poor.  The profit Isaiah is proclaimed to say very strongly “Be strong, fear not! Here is your God and He comes to save you.”  He goes on to say, “Then will the eyes of the blind be open, and the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing.”  That is a good theme of how the Lord takes care of us.  Psalm 146 says that he secures justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.  He even sets the captives free.  Again, it shows that this is a good reason to praise the Lord my soul.  So here is that theme running through.  Then with the gospel also, we hear the theme that this deaf man will hear, and he will be able to speak again.  Jesus preformed this miracle in a little different way.  I can just imagine Jesus putting his arm around the deaf and mute person as he took him off from the crowd.  Then when it was just the two of them, He cured him with the signs of touching, putting his fingers in the man’s ears and spitting, touching his tongue.  Then he looked up to heaven, he cried out “Be opened!”.  So church, you can see this theme of the Lord, going after and being concerned with the poor.

Now my other reflection that usually comes up pretty strong in my conscience, is how I treat the poor and the wealthy together.  It is always a challenge.  St. James really gives a blunt reflection about a person that is rich and a person who is real poor.  He tells the poor person to go stand there or sit at my feet.  In some ways he is making judgements and distinctions.  We know that God chose the poor of the world to be rich in faith and heirs to the kingdom that he promised to those who love him.  Alleluia!

So, Lord it is just good to be able to celebrate that message.  I need to hear it over and over again on how I treat the poor and how we all treat people from different backgrounds.  Letting them enter into our lives is always a challenge.  The Lord wants us to give our best, no partiality so that everybody is somebody before the Lord.  We should really go about loving others, especially the so called poor.  They might really be the rich ones.  Amen.

Love,

Fr. Bob