Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?

Gn 6,5-8; 7,1-5.10; Ps 28; Mk 8,14-21
19 FEBRUARY

One can walk with Christ Jesus, behind Him, but as blind and deaf people. You can be God’s people, but without any knowledge of the Lord. The Lord God sends Isaiah as his prophet to a people that is deaf, dumb and blind.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!” And he replied: Go and say to this people: Listen carefully, but you shall not understand! Look intently, but you shall know nothing! You are to make the heart of this people sluggish, to dull their ears and close their eyes; Else their eyes will see, their ears hear, their heart understand, and they will turn and be healed. “How long, O Lord?” I asked. And he replied: Until the cities are desolate, without inhabitants, Houses, without a man, and the earth is a desolate waste. Until the Lord removes men far away, and the land is abandoned more and more. If there be still a tenth part in it, then this in turn shall be laid waste; As with a terebinth or an oak whose trunk remains when its leaves have fallen. (Holy offspring is the trunk.) (Is 6,8-13).

In the story of the parables of the kingdom, Jesus applies the prophecy of Isaiah to his generation. He was sent as Isaiah to a deaf, dumb and blind people.

“Why do you speak to them in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because ‘they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.’ Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: ‘You shall indeed hear but not understand you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and be converted, and I heal them.’ “But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it (Mt 13,10-17).

Saint Paul separates himself from the Jews and decides not to preach the Gospel to his people anymore, because they remained still deaf, blind and dumb. They do not want to open themselves to true faith.

Without reaching any agreement among themselves they began to leave; then Paul made one final statement. “Well did the holy Spirit speak to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah, saying: ‘Go to this people and say: You shall indeed hear but not understand. You shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people; they will not hear with their ears; they have closed their eyes, so they may not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and be converted, and I heal them.’ Let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen” (At 28,25-28).

Today Lord Jesus, speaking to his disciples, warns all his Church. It is always possible to become blind, deaf and dumb, even walking behind Jesus, even by receiving the sacraments, even by celebrating, even by reading the Gospel and meditating on it.

They had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. He enjoined them, “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” They concluded among themselves that it was because they had no bread. When he became aware of this he said to them, “Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?” They answered him, “Twelve.” “When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?” They answered (him), “Seven.” He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

Since it is easy to be deaf, blind and dumb for us that we follow Jesus closely, rather the closer we are to Him and the more this danger looms, it is necessary, indeed it is urgent that everyone puts every effort to grow in wisdom and grace. If this growth is omitted, one always becomes blind, deaf and dumb. It is a great sadness to be disciples of Jesus, ministers, apostles and instruments of his light and grace as blind, deaf and dumb persons.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, support us with your help so that we may remain in the light.