When I was in seminary, one of the things I looked forward to most every summer was the week I would spend at Catholic Youth Summer Camp. CYSC is a weeklong, overnight high adventure camp for middle and high schoolers. As a seminarian, I had the privilege of serving for a week as a counselor there for a small group of campers. It was always so amazing to see how God would work in those young peoples’ lives during that week. The tagline of CYSC is “Live the Adventure,” which is very fitting. During the daytime, the teens would have the opportunity to participate in high adventure activities like zip lining, rock climbing, mountain biking and paint balling. During the evenings, there was a big meeting with all the campers and the camp staff called ‘Club,’ where the staff would put on skits that brought home different messages of faith in powerful ways. People would also give personal testimonies during Club, sharing how God had worked in their lives. Club always concluded with the opportunity to pray together in song through praise and worship, sometimes with Adoration. The evening club time allowed the kids to see that ‘Live the Adventure’ applied not only to what they did during the day, but what they entered into at night. That week helped the campers, counselors and staff to live the adventure of our Catholic faith.
One very special memory from that time period was the week of CYSC in 2010 where, I believe, my three younger siblings and I were all at camp at the same time. Billy, Julie and I were all counselors and Laura was a camper. As usual, the week was full of beautiful experiences of prayer and growth in faith. Even though we didn’t spend a lot of time together that week, we were all united by our experience. On the last day of camp, we all found each other in the crowd of campers and enjoyed a nice, big sibling group hug. Each of us was in our own place in our journey with Jesus, but in that moment, we all realized what a gift it was to have experienced the power of God together that week. In that embrace with my siblings, my heart overflowed with the joy of the Holy Spirit, thanking the Father for all that He had done in each of our hearts. It was a little taste of Heaven which I will never forget.
Another memory etched on my heart as we ponder the readings for this Sunday is of my experience of the Sacrament of Confession during college with a dear priest friend of mine, Fr. Don Franks. One thing you have to know about Fr. Franks is that he is a hugger. In college, we had a term for when Fr. Franks would come up and pull you in to pray as he embraced you. We called it “being Franked.” If you haven’t met him, Fr. Franks is the type of priest who just oozes the love of Jesus. His heart is filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit and you can’t help but be caught up in the overflow when you’re getting “Franked.” As I’ve gotten older, I realize that not everyone who knows Fr. Franks has gotten “Franked” because he is actually very discerning about who he pulls in for a “Holy Spirit hug.” He knows when someone isn’t ready for that!
I will always look back fondly on going to Confession with Fr. Franks during my college years. He knew that I was also a hugger, so I got “Franked pretty much every time we saw each other. I still do to this day. That physicality with Fr. Franks manifested itself in how he gave absolution in Confession. Often, during the prayer of absolution, Fr Franks would lay his hands directly on my head as he prayed. In those moments, the warmth of Fr. Franks’ hands on my head as He granted me Sacramental absolution gave me a sense of the love of God the Father as I received His forgiveness in that moment.
I will forever treasure all these moments of personal connection. Fr. Franks putting his priestly hands on my head, my embrace with my siblings as we enjoyed the glow of God’s love together. In those moments, that physical closeness was the perfect thing.
We see this intimate moment of personal encounter in the Gospel today between Jesus and the deaf man with a speech impediment. Jesus comes up to him and touches him in a very personal way. I don’t know about all of you, but I would not let just anyone stick their finger into my ears or put their finger on my tongue. If some stranger came up and stuck his finger in my ear I’d probably be pretty uncomfortable. But Jesus wasn’t just any stranger. The friends of this person knew of Jesus’ reputation for doing mighty deeds and I would imagine this deaf person did, as well. But still, that level of touch is very intimate. It involves a level of trust most of us probably would struggle with. Even knowing that Jesus is a healer or even the Messiah, having Him touch my tongue would probably make me squirm at least a little.
The point of this very physical encounter was more than just for physical healing. Jesus knew that beyond the healing of his mouth and ears, this man needed his heart healed. When Jesus approaches each of us, He sees right down to our very core. He knows exactly what each of us needs to be healed from the inside out. So this personal touch of the man’s ears and his tongue was a physical manifestation of Jesus’ intimate concern for the man’s soul. In that moment Jesus gave that man the grace needed to bring him personal wholeness. All Jesus’ miracles involved the faith of the person receiving them. Jesus gave the deaf man with the speech impediment the faith necessary to be healed in his fullness, body and soul. The extremely personal physical touch was an outward sign of Jesus embracing that man’s heart in a very close, personal way in order to heal it.
Do you realize that Jesus wants to come to you and me in power today to bring us healing in that same close, personal way? Think of what we are about to experience in the Eucharist! As I pray over the elements of bread and wine, Jesus will become personally present: Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. For those of you receiving Him, He will literally touch your tongue today!
Listen again to the words of the prophet Isaiah from the first reading:
Say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
with divine recompense
he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.
That prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus loosed the tongue of that man to sing the praises of God and opened his ears so that he could hear the words of eternal life coming from Him. He was at work in the man’s heart to save it!
This is what Jesus wants to do in each of us. He comes to us in just the same power and glory as He did with that deaf man so long ago, but hidden under the appearance of bread and wine. In this intimate, personal encounter, Jesus wants to heal you down to your core so that your heart can be filled to overflowing such that your whole life will become an expression of praise and thanksgiving to the God who has saved you. But the temptation is always there to pull away, to avoid that level of vulnerability with the Lord.
Think of how I would have missed out if I would have pulled away from Fr. Franks’ hands on my head, or if I had been self conscious about what others would think of me and my siblings having a big, embarrassing group hug together. But this is so often how we approach the Savior. He comes to us with the power of His Divine Mercy that defeated sin and death on the Cross, but too often, we either completely miss the fact of His presence or we hold back.
Brothers and sisters, remember that with our Blessed Lord, there is nothing to fear. Don’t hold back from intimacy with Him today. Open your heart to the Faith that He has blessed you with so that you can humbly welcome His healing touch in your heart.
+ Heavenly Father, thank you for the way you care for each of us by sending us your Son. Lord Jesus, help us not to pull back from the healing you want to give us. Holy Spirit, open our hearts to the faith which allows us to experience that deep healing Jesus wants to give us. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen. +