23rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Grandpa was almost stone deaf. He finally went to the doctor to see if anything could be done about his condition. The doctor fit him with a set of hearing aids that allowed him to hear like new.

When Grandpa went back to the doctor for his monthly checkup, the doctor said, “Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again.”

Grandpa replied, “Oh, I haven’t told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to their conversations. I’ve already changed my will three times!”

The word Jesus used when he healed the deaf man in today’s Gospel was “Ephphatha,” which means “be opened.”  At each of our baptisms, the celebrant prayed a prayer that our ears would be opened to hear God’s word, and our mouths be opened to proclaim it.

Deacon Dick Folger