Mk 7:31-37 Will You Listen To Me?

Mk 7:31-37 Will You Listen To Me?

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Jesus left the district of Tyre and went into the district of the Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears, and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephaphatha!” (that is, “Be Opened!”)

I can honestly say that I have not seen any charismatic preachers on TV who have had the courage to spit into their hand and touch a man’s tongue and say to him, “Ephaphatha!” Probably for good reason, for he may very well expect a touch of the man’s knuckles on his face!

I don’t particularly enjoy traveling. I don’t particularly enjoy speaking to strangers. But when you wear a collar and dress in a suit, then most likely you will be doing a lot of the above. I never saw this part of my vocation in the recruitment video! So be it.

I have been traveling a lot these past five days. I have met a lot of people too, and many of them have very strong personal opinions for or against me. I do to. So bring it on I typically say, for I need to say that because I must see every person that comes up to me as a person that was sent by God to me – good or bad!

A woman recently told me that she agreed with President Obama’s edict that demands Catholic institutions such as hospitals and schools provide contraceptive health care for their employees. I always thought we didn’t want the Church or the government to go into anybody’s bedroom? Anyways this thought provoking woman thought it was a brilliant idea. “Why?” I asked. “Because women need it for their health”, she replied. “After all, 15% of women use “the pill” to treat endometriosis and other conditions.”

She was so proud of her knowledge and so confident in her ability to change my mind. With that in mind, I gave this fine woman a lesson in Catholicism 101. I told her, “The Catholic Church has no problem with women using the pill in order to solve medical problems. All Catholic doctors, all Catholic Hospitals, would have no problem with prescribing the pill for endometriosis and serious medical issues. What the Church has a problem with is being forced to pay the bill for using the pill to stop or terminate a pregnancy. And for this reason alone, the Church will not support this government mandate that goes against its conscience.” She then told me, “Then the Church should no longer be in this business!” I reminded this fine woman, “That is the point! It is not a business. It is a ministry. And the Catholic Church has been in this ministry before you were here and before America was here. ‘Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion.’ Get it?”

I remember one child asking me once, “Do you have to follow all Ten Commandments at once or can you do them one at a time?” The answer is the same for our Constitutional Amendments. They must all be respected and all at the same time! I have yet to hear a supporter of this mandate explain to me how this mandate does not violate the very First Amendment of our Constitution. I have heard how it is necessary, helpful, thoughtful and civil, but I have not heard how it does not violate the very First Amendment!

It shames me to think that fifty-one percent of Catholics agree with President Obama. A good Catholic woman came up to me and said, “We need to help women stay healthy.” I told her, “Then let’s get rid of the pill!” She was shocked. I was not. She must not know that we now have a growing number of Gonorrhea cases that are resistant to antibiotics. She must not know that more than 600,000 people contract it annually in the United States! She must not know that Gonorrhea is only the 2^nd most common STD in America! That means, there are more than a million cases of Chlamydia and Gonorrhea a year! The pill gives women a false sense of health.

The silly feminist and ultra-liberal Rep. Diana DeGette from Colorado recently commented, “I woke up this morning in the 21^st century, not in the middle Ages! Family planning and birth control are an essential part of women’s health?” Well, I can tell you know that Diana must have never studied history, or medicine or logic in her life! I wake up every morning wishing I was living in the Middle Ages! Imagine what that would be like: very few women slaughtering their own children; no more hidden outbreaks of promiscuity, adultery, infidelity and divorce; no more teens cutting themselves because mom or dad act more like teenagers than adults! No more homeless teens or wandering teens.

Am I supposed to think that we have progressed because time progresses? Am I supposed to think that we are doing better because 2012 has a numerical value greater than 1512? Listen to me, “Give me a break! Open your ears, your mind, and your hearts!”

Ladies have gone to “Plan B” (or the “morning after pill”) not because “Plan A” does not work, but because it is deceptively cheaper and more available! The very name, “Plan B”, is an acknowledgment that something better is out there. “Plan B” exists in drug form. “Plan A” does not exist in drug form but rather in our very nature. “Plan B” are for those who know better but have settled for less. “Plan A” are for those who wish to live in the light, bathe in the Son, and live life respecting their life! Plan A is amazingly easy to live, it is written in our hearts, our minds, our souls and our very being. It demands nothing from the outside but only our very best: high values, morals, principles, standards and personal dignity. It does not cost a thing. No one, other than you, profits from it. It is easy to open, easy to swallow, easy to digest. It is made out of love.

Listen to me, open your ears. Live life on high! Diet plans and health care plans are no substitute for God’s plans.