Reconnecting

In October,  the Church will mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. (Some of us remember it as if it were yesterday).  Pope Benedict XVI has proclaimed a "Year of Faith", a New Evangelization effort to open up and review the documents of the council as well as to make an effort to heal the breach between our ever increasingly materialsitic world and the person of Jesus.  Fr. Robert Barron, noted contemporary and forceful evangelist, states the purpose of these efforts as follows:  "The task of the New Evangelization is none other than this reconnection of the secular world to God through Jesus Christ.  It is the introduction of the Word made flesh to those who cannot hear and cannot speak." Magnificat, September, p. 121.
Today's Gospel tells the story of the deaf mute from the Decapolis who was brought to Jesus for healing.  Not only did he live in a secular world (the Decapolis region was more Greek than Jewish), but he was totally cut off from all communication.  He was "disconnected."  Such has become our world, and in various degrees, ourselves as well, as the attitudes and ways of thinking of this world seep into our ways of thinking and behaving.  We need to be brought to Jesus to have him put his finger into our ears and spit on our tongues to open and loose them from the clutter that has accrued in this milieu and reconnect us through study, prayer and service to others back to Jesus and the way of life he offers us. May the New Evangelization reach us and be the catalyst for this needed change for the entire Church.
Bro. Rene