Every day we utilize all kinds of means of communication to reach out to others, to work, for fun. Advanced technology offers us a plethora of those means which have significantly changed our lifestyles. I think none of us can image anymore living without a cellphone, social media, internet, etc. We take for granted the fact that at any moment we can connect by video call with a person who lives on the other end of the world, for free. Something unthinkable just a couple of decades ago. However, the simplicity and availability of different means of communication does not mean that we can have at the same time a real connection with another person.

The gospel reading for this Sunday recounts Jesus’ healing of a deaf and mute man. Even today with advanced medicine such physical condition would be considered as great suffering and limitation. Even more in the time of Jesus, when there was no way to help and to communicate with a such person. This man living with others at the same time was condemned to live a lonely life, not being able to share with them his thoughts, emotions, dreams. Unsurprisingly, Jesus felt deep compassion for the man who had no clue who Jesus was. With some simple gestures Jesus offered to him an access to the world he only knew through his eyes. But not just that, it allowed him to begin to relate to others in a new dimension and share with them on a deep spiritual level. This healing enabled him to enter communion with God and people.

Today, physical disabilities of this kind can be treated with variety of medical instruments. But this reading reminds us that we might be suffering from more profound deafness and muteness—a spiritual one. There are a lot of people around us unable to hear God speaking to them, incapable of expressing their gratitude to him with the words of praise. When it happens to us, we find ourselves living a life of loneliness, convinced being alone in this world, separated and estranged from others. When we lose our connection to God, sooner or later, we lose our connection to other people as well.

Like the man from the gospel reading, we also might be in need of healing from our spiritual deafness. In the sacraments of the Church Jesus comes to meet us and touch our lives with his healing grace. He invites us to a relationship with him, and he wants to open our hearts to the life of heaven that he has brought to us. Only by allowing Jesus to touch our hearts we may discover a life of joy, peace, and communion with other. Only in this way, we will be able to hear God speaking to us and to respond to him in praise. As Psalm 95 says: if today you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.