Word gets around. Saint Matthew, in today’s Gospel, tell us: “When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together …” (Mt. 22:34)
Yes, word gets around. So does fear. The Pharisees are afraid. Jesus has silenced the Sadducees. And word gets around: Jesus has silenced the noise.
We fall in love with noise. We fall for noise not because we like it, but because noise is better than the alternative: quiet. Noise prevents things. Noise is fear’s highway.
Noise fends off the scariness of a silence that heals. In the type of silence that heals, pain and hurt can surface. This is why noise is so addicting. Noise numbs us from welcoming the old hurts so that they can be forgiven and healed. Reflective silence allows us to listen safely to and collect the hurts that have bruised us. From that recollection we can reformulate life’s hurts so that we can share them in a place of healing and connection.
Healing and connection are not sentiment or the ongoing presence of good feelings. Healing and connection are the living opposites of revenge. Healing goes deeper than the hurt that has been done and begins to connect within us all we thought was lost. Healing does not simply teach a lesson or take the higher road; it is a new beginning of goodness.
Healing, like silence, springs from deep inside the Christian. It flows from the stalwart depths of faith and hope that join us with Christ. In this way he creates a new beginning of goodness right where evil has attempted to do its worst.
Word gets around. Fear gets around. But healing and connection can surpass both. Especially when we follow close to Jesus.
God bless,
Msgr. Bransfield
Pastor
