One summer, when I was still a seminarian, I was given the opportunity to take a two week course in American Sign Language at Gallaudet University (NO, I am not very good at ASL).  One day, I think at lunch, the group at the table were discussing which would be worse: to be deaf or to be blind? Obviously both have disadvantages and advantages. A deaf person does not have the limitations of movement that I blind person does -- the deaf can drive a car -- but there are limitations on communication which effect relationships.  The blind person has the easier time connecting and communicating with other people, but as I mentioned, they have to rely more on public transportation or others for getting around.

I think most of us would say that we are glad that we generally have all our senses working.  We know that Jesus was aware of isolating effects of both blindness and deafness, and that He healed people with both conditions.

In this Sunday's Gospel, we meet a man who is described as deaf and suffering a speech impediment - two handicaps he did not wish for himself.  His neighbors bring the man to Jesus and beg Jesus to cure him. Jesus touches the man's ears and tongue and commands them to be opened. And they are! The man begins to hear and to speak plainly.

There is no doubt, the man would never want to return to his former condition. Why would he choose to be deaf? Why would he choose to be unable to speak?

However, there are often times when many of us make exactly those choices.  Our ears are open to hear what our favorite newscaster is saying (whether they be on the Right or the Left), but closed to hear what the “other” side is really saying.  We listen carefully to what our friends are saying about their lives and our common interests, but we are deaf to the words of the stranger sitting next to us, or the poor in our neighborhoods.

We speak out loud and clear to give our opinion as to which team is going to which the championship, or when we feel as if our rights have been violated, but we become mute when individuals or groups that we dislike face discrimination and unjust treatment. We say nothing.

Selective deafness and selective speech impairment also happen in our spiritual lives.  We listen to the Words of the Gospel and the teachings of the Church that affirm us and do not challenge our way of living.  But we are often deaf to the prophets who call us to support the rights of immigrants, to care for the environment, to defend the unborn child, to combat society's addiction to pornography, to shun the racism and prejudices that negatively affect certain groups, and to stand against the media's portrayal of marriage, gender, and sexual activity.

We have no problem with our tongue when we are in Church. It works fine. We pray, we sing, we profess our faith, we offer our petitions, we speak of peace and justice. Holy words, loving words, saintly words flow freely at Mass.  But often such words do not come so freely outside the doors of the church. We become tongue-tied, our speech becomes impaired. We do not mention our faith in our conversations with co-workers, neighbors, and friends. We do not speak in favor of laws and policies that are in line with the Gospel and oppose those that relativize truth and morality. We do not call the evil we see evil for fear of offending or being labeled a religious bigot. We do not speak words of prayer in public and sometimes not even within our homes.

Part of the “Rebuilding” process that we are beginning here at Resurrection Parish means breaking through our deafness, and loosing our tongues to speak.  Now we are at the beginning phase of this process, where we are identifying our situation. If we don’t have a clear picture of where we are at, we will not be able to make plans for moving forward.  The Pastoral Council and I recently met and started to listen to people’s experiences of our parish.

One of the common themes that have come out is that we are not being perceived as a welcoming community of faith.  No one greets people as them come in. People have their customary place in the pews, and they give “looks” if anyone else sits there.  Parents have reported to me that they have been “shushed” when their young child starts to act up some.

We need to really look closely at this, and listen to this feedback.  I am sure that all of us want to be welcoming, especially to new people, but we seem to need to communicate that better.  We do not want to become like the community that St. James was addressing in today’s second reading, where there are “insiders” and “outsiders” in our parish.

We are going to need to have open and honest talks about the finances of the parish.  In short, we are not able to pay our bills. Just this week, we received two monthly bills from the Diocese (for our liability insurance and the assessment) which totaled over $13,000.  Our collection last week was less than $7500. Trish and I estimate that we need our first collection to be about $10,000 each week to pay our bills. We are averaging maybe $8000. If we cannot pay our bills, we will have to make drastic cuts.  If we continue to fall into debt, there may come a time when we will be forced to close.

I will not speak for all of you, but I DO NOT WANT THIS PARISH TO CLOSE!  One priest friend of mine commented that most of us pastors are really just sitting at the bedside of a dying parish.  I DO NOT WANT TO BE AT THE BEDSIDE OF A DYING PARISH!

I know that we can revive our parish; that we can break out of the malaize that has also been observed by members of the parish.  But I cannot do it on my own. We need to do this together. The single factor that people mention that caused them to feel at home in our parish is getting involved in parish activities.

Starting next week we will begin our next message series.  It is called, “Next STEPS,” and it is a basic road map for growing in our journey with Jesus, of truly becoming disciples.

We need to call upon the Lord to touch our hearts, our ears, and our lips. We need him to give us courage. We need him to say to us what he says to the man in this Sunday's Gospel, "Ephphatha!" - "Be opened!"