I have always loved this story in Mark’s Gospel. A deaf-mute man makes his way to Jesus, begging him to lay his hand on him. Jesus takes the man off by himself, away from the crowd where He then put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting into His hand, touches the man’s tongue. Jesus then looks up to heaven and groans, He turns to the man, calling out, “Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” — And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. He saw and heard and spoke as others did; he was no longer rejected or relegated to a life of a beggar. In another text, in John, Jesus uses his spit to heal a blind man, “Having said these things, [Jesus] spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). So, he went and washed and came back seeing.”
It always amazes me how Jesus loves and heals everyone, no matter their ailment, no matter who they are, or what they’ve done, or who rejects them and without regard even to the laws or religious customs of the day. He violates the rules and uses the seemingly ordinary things of the world – dirt, spit, prayer, hope and love – to bring about extraordinary healing and life!
Over the last 16 years, Saint Miriam has done the same. Despite the rag-tag group we are, we bring and serve and love everyone. We are patient, and kind, and forgiving, even from within our own messiness! And, every summer, we close the season with a week or two of intense work where we take the seemingly ordinary things like dirt, and paint, and cleaning supplies, and carpet, and metal and a lot of hard work to bring about extraordinary changes to do even more and serve so many who will come.
These last few weeks have been very expensive. And, with the budget already upside down, we could use your help. Regular giving has been a plea, and we made some progress, but then stalled. We also encourage one-time larger gifts this time of year to help us over the hurdle of these expenses. We are – I pray – in this together. Maybe if we all take from our own abundance, and give back to God and His church, we might also contribute to the extraordinary together?
Together, in hope, we do amazing things at Saint Miriam!
Monsignor +Jim