A time to listen and a time to speak.
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mark 7:31-37
Any mother is excited to hear her baby’s first word which usually is “mama”. To do so baby actually gets a lot of help from its mother who constantly whispers to its ear.
Like a parrot who learns to talk, we all learned to speak from babyhood by listening. And if anybody does not speak properly it’s most probably because the person has difficulty in hearing.
Such is the case with the deaf mute in today’s gospel. In fact Jesus heals first his hearing by touching his ears before Jesus heals his speech by putting spittle in his mouth.
Someone has said that humans have two ears and only one mouth for the simple reason that we have to first listen twice before we even speak once. Unfortunately many fail here and this explains why we have unfounded rumors, unreliable hearsay and fake news.
Don Bosco advised his first missionaries sent to Argentina in 1875 to listen first to two sides before making a decision on any issue. Any story has always two sides to it.
Aptly Ecclesiastes 3:7 adds that there is a time for everything like a time to be silent and a time to speak.
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