Homily (Reflection) for the Memorial
of Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, B (14th February, 2020) on the
Gospel and the Memorial
(Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
(II))
1Kgs 11:29-32; 12:19;
Ps 80:10-15. (R. vv.11.9);
Mk 7:31-37.
After a brilliant course of studies, Cyril refused the
governorship of a district and withdrew to a monastery where his brother
Methodius had become a monk after some years in a governmental post. The duo
undertook the missionary task when the Duke of Moravia secured political
independence from German rule and ecclesiastical autonomy. Cyril invented an
alphabet which they used to translate the Gospels, the psalter, Paul’s letters
and the liturgical books into Slavonic, and also composed a Slavonic liturgy.
Cyril appealed to Rome as a result of the opposition from the German clergy and
the bishop’s refusal to consecrate Slavic bishops and priests. Pope Adrian II
approved their new liturgy. However, Cyril died in Rome 50 days after taking
the monastic habit. Methodius worked for 16 more years. He was papal legate for
all the Slavic peoples, consecrated a bishop and then given an ancient see (now
in the Czech Republic). Opposition continued after his death, and the work of
the brothers in Moravia was brought to an end and their disciples scattered.
But the expulsions had the beneficial effect of spreading the spiritual,
liturgical, and cultural work of the brothers to Bulgaria, Bohemia and southern
Poland.[1]
Topic: Turn to God.
Today’s gospel
tells us how a deaf man who also had an impediment in his speech was brought to
Jesus for healing.
He
took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his
ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed
and said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is ‘Be opened.’ And immediately his ears
were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
Jesus
looked up to heaven because “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made
heaven and earth” (Ps 124:8). And
the prophet Isaiah rightly noted that those “… who wait for the LORD shall
renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall
run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Is 40:31).
We
all need the healing touch of Jesus in different areas of our lives. That Jesus
who restored the wholeness of the man that was brought to Him is still at work
and wants each and every one of us to come to Him with our joys, pains,
sorrows, disappointments, heartbreaks, and so on. He can and is also willing to
restore all of us to wholeness because He came that we may have life and have
it in full, cf. Jn 10:10. For us to
be healed, we must turn to God in every circumstance.
Bible Reading: Is 35: 1-6; Rom 10:5-21.
Thought for today: In every
circumstance, turn to God.
Let us pray: Lord,
we plead with you to heal every part of our body that we may praise you fully – Amen.
Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius –
Pray for us.
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