New Ears and New Eyes

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In today’s Gospel, Matthew quotes the prophet Isaiah: “Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes….”  At the first reading of this passage, I immediately begin searching for “those people” who are blind and deaf to God’s revelation.  Yet, in a split second, God reveals something deeper.  Instead of looking for “those people,” I should be examining my own soul to take stock of the ways that I have been blind and deaf to the ways that He wants me to grow.

There very well may be other people in my life who cannot and do not hear and see God’s message.  However, God wants me to realize that I have allowed many obstacles to my fulfillment and happiness; and that these are often more difficult to remove.  I must remember that Jesus teaches me to remove the beam in my own eye before trying to remove the splinters in others’ eyes (cf. Matthew 7:5).  I need to recall first that mine are the eyes that cannot see and the ears that cannot hear!


All is not lost, though.  The grace of God, manifest in the Person of Jesus Christ, can overcome all defects.  This is why Jesus says to the apostles, “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.”  If I listen to Jesus (especially in the Church and the Scriptures) and look at Him (especially in the Eucharist), my deafness will be broken open and my blindness will be chased away, to paraphrase St. Augustine (Confessions X, 27).  With new ears and eyes, I will then be able to walk with others toward the fullness that God intends for them.

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