Collect for 23rd Sunday of Year B

COLLECT SERIES

THE MASS: COLLECT SERIES ICON.

COLLECT

The Collect for the 23rd Sunday of the Year reads as follows:

O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption,

Look graciously upon Your beloved sons and daughters,

that those who believe in Christ,

may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance.

In making this prayer tangible for during the week, the following reflection questions emerged:

  REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1.What does it mean to me to be redeemed?

2. What difference will being redeemed make in my life this week with my family, friends, colleagues, strangers?

3.What does it mean to me to receive adoption from God?

4. What does it mean to me this week to be a beloved son or daughter of God?

5. If someone asked you this week why do you believe in Christ?- what answer would you give him/her?

6. What do you consider true freedom to be? Is it similar to/different from God's true freedom?

7. How can i examine my life ( or one area) of my life in the light of everlasting inheritance?  What can I change/improve this week?

 GOSPEL REFLECTION

In today's Gospel, we hear how Jesus made the deaf hear and the dumb speak.

You may wish to read my thoughts on this gospel from Mark (7:31-37).  There are a couple of key areas to consider as we hear this Gospel read. They are as follows:

·        Jesus heals the ears first and then tongue- we need to hear the word of God first before         we can proclaim it.

·        Healing of the deaf and dumb man is also me at any time.  I need to be healed from the       deafness that I have allowed to permeate my life.  I need to be healed from dumbness-        of not speaking out to help a neighbour/colleague at work when injustice has occurred.

•   Listening to this Gospel invites us to consider our deafness and dumbness. 

·  Jesus healing is miraculous for the deaf and dumb man. The crowd acknowledge it and say "' He does all things well''.  We may think that there are no miracles in our life. Every day when we wake up is a miracle and blessing- God is providing us with another day to know, love and serve Him.  Everything we do and say and even not say can be a miracle for another person. A kind word here or a smile there can light up another person's world- it opens them up to hearing the world from a God perspective and the chance for them to share it with others.  This is just with a smile or a kind word. What miracles do we hear and speak of in our own lives? Do we say "God has done all things well'' in gratitude.  

·   It invites us to think of those who experience physical deafness: with hearing aids, it             makes it easier for the deaf person to hear. However it is not easy for the deaf person - it      is not the same as having one's own physical hearing.  Perhaps we may wish to be more     patient with someone who suffers hearing loss.  We may wish to thank God for our    physical  hearing.

·   It invites us to reflect seriously on our own spiritual deafness and dumbness.  Here we can come to Christ in reconciliation and ask for healing. In what ways am I spiritually deaf and dumb? How well  do I hear Christ when He speaks to me?

·    It invites us to think of the emotional impact of being physically, emotionally and spiritually      deaf and dumb can have on our lives and the lives of others.

EXPERIMENT/CHALLENGE TO LISTENING and COMMUNICATION.

1. Place 2 chairs 1.5 metres apart ( social distancing) of the same height.

2. Invite a spouse, family member/parishioner/colleague to have a short 1-minute (or less) conversation on a topic of their choice. This can be done also on skype, facetime etc in these challenging times.

3.Actively Listen to the person. 

4. Then in your own words tell the person what you heard them say. Listen carefully to the adjectives they used and also to the underlying mood/feelings.

5. Ask the person what you did not hear- what was left out. How well did you listen? How did the other person feel when they were heard/not heard? It is best not to take notes since this is a distraction from listening but this can be used as an intermediate step to active listening if you find that neither of the parties involved are listening well.

4. Invite the person to share the experience.

5. Now it is your turn to have your conversation. Repeat the process.

The key to becoming a better active listener is to practise it as it is a skill.  Do not start on some topic that is likely to be stressful/ an unresolved conflict in a marriage.  Start with some topic that means something to you but does not carry any emotional baggage with it.  For example: My favourite flowers, a favourite movie or a movie I dislike b/c...
The other key to making this successful is keeping the conversation short at first- to give both speaker and listener the chance to develop good communication skills.

You can even tape it if you wish to really hone your listening skills or if you want to try this experiment/challenge on your own.  You can talk about something for a short time, write down what you think you said and then play the tape- what is the outcome? How well did you listen to yourself?

You can even try the listening challenge with Jesus in your prayer time. How well do we listen then?

 COMMUNICATION.

1.  .  . Imagine you are dumb.  You are wanting to express how you feel.  Imagine you are feeling sad- not depressed at the bottom of the emotional pit but sad and give it a number out of 10.

2.            2.   You are going to communicate with another person this level of sadness.

    3. The other person needs to establish what the emotion is and its intensity.

How well did you communicate and how well did the other person understand your emotion and its intensity?

In today's society we often take our senses for granted.  They are a gift from God. Perhaps today our prayer of thanksgiving can be:

                         

                               ''God does all things well'' Thank you God.

We may even like to pray this hymn as we listen or sing "Open our ears Lord''  or this well-known hymn ''Open my eyes Lord''