He has done all things well Gen

Gen 3,1-8; Ps 31; Mk 7,31-37
15 FEBRUARY

What is confessed on Jesus – he has done everything well: he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak – must be confessed of every disciple of Jesus. This is the rule to which Saint Paul has obliged himself and who asks the same obligation to every Christian.

We cause no one to stumble in anything, in order that no fault may be found with our ministry; on the contrary, in everything we commend ourselves as ministers of God, through much endurance, in afflictions, hardships, constraints, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, vigils, fasts; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, in a holy spirit, in unfeigned love, in truthful speech, in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness at the right and at the left; through glory and dishonour, insult and praise. We are treated as deceivers and yet are truthful; as unrecognized and yet acknowledged; as dying and behold we live; as chastised and yet not put to death; as sorrowful yet always rejoicing; as poor yet enriching many; as having nothing and yet possessing all things. We have spoken frankly to you, Corinthians; our heart is open wide. You are not constrained by us; you are constrained by your own affections. As recompense in kind (I speak as to my children), be open yourselves. Do not be yoked with those who are different, with unbelievers. For what partnership do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? What accord has Christ with Beliar? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said: “I will live with them and move among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore, come forth from them and be separate,” says the Lord, “and touch nothing unclean; then I will receive you and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty” (2Cor 6, 3-18).

The works to be done are different from person to person. Those of Christ are not those of the disciples. Those of John are not those of Paul. Those of Peter are not those of James. The works are the fruit of the ministry that comes from the sacraments received, from the special mission that is given to us, from the gift of the Holy Spirit or from the gifts that are bestowed. However, the attestation remains, the confession of those who see our work. Everyone is obliged to do everything well so that men can give this testimony: “This disciple does all things well”. But how is everything done well? Obeying the Word, the sacrament received, the gift of grace which is the patrimony of our ministry and listening to every motion of the Holy Spirit. As soon as we detach ourselves from the Gospel, from the charisma and from the Holy Spirit, things might never be done well. People see it and shout it. Every disciple of Jesus is obliged, for the love of his Master, so that He is believed, when he is announced, to do everything well, always and before the whole world.

Again he left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”) And (immediately) the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it. They were exceedingly astonished and they said, “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and (the) mute speak.”

Every disciple of Jesus is called to question and examine his conscience not only in relation to the sins personally committed before God, for having transgressed his Law, but also on the negative effects that his small or serious transgressions produce in relation to the credibility of Christ Jesus and at the birth of faith in him in the hearts. We know that many people do not come to the faith because of the scandal of Christians. What is the use of believing in Christ if you Christians behave in such an immoral way that we Pagans do not even know these things? The Christian scandal is the greatest obstacle to the evangelizing mission. Jesus shows us that everything can be done well. It is sufficient to obey the Holy Spirit and remain in the Gospel as our home, our dwelling and our perennial law of eternal life. If we can, we must.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, help every disciple of Jesus to do all things well.