Jesus comes with a sacred touch to free us from our impediments, sins, shame, struggles

By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor

A reflection on the daily readings, for the Memorial of St. Scholastica, virgin, by Father Perry.

+ To be innocent is to be blameless, lacking guilt, uncorrupted, sinless, pure.

The second story of creation marks this moment in time when innocence is lost; it is described as an “opening of the eyes” that allowed Eve and then Adam to see .

At this opening of the eyes all would be seen differently — both the good and the bad.

Eve saw it as an opportunity for gaining wisdom but what happened when she ate what God had forbidden her to eat — forbidden even to the point of facing death should she disobey.

This creature that crawled on the ground and no doubt hissed aloud: “youssss canssss eatsss of ssthisss treeeessss …!”

And she did.

And he did.

And their innocence was lost.

They acquired guilt and shame. Their innocent nakedness became shameful nakedness.

And they hid from God in their shame. And this eternal spiritual hide-and-seek game would be ever played by all.

This obvious story is trying to get at something quite mysterious; it uncovers the many layers of reality experienced at the same time in the same place.

Two people look at the same reality and see something different.

Take the statue of David by Michelangelo.

This 17-foot-tall statue reveals a naked man exposing his genitals. It is considered a Renaissance masterpiece of sculpture.

One person looking at it might cry at its beauty, while another looks at it and is deep in sexual depravity. Good? Bad? Wise? Ignorant?

As Jesus spoke previously, it is what comes “out of the heart” that makes us impure.

No apple and no garden and no serpent causes this. It is, quite frankly, a mysterious reality. We struggle to remain pure and to see clearly and wisely and shamelessly.

How else could we describe this reality?

Perhaps a hissing, talking, sneaking snake is the best way.

The point is that we all struggle with innocence and wisdom, and good and bad and guilty and shameful stuff.

We hide from God and even hide from ourselves.

This mystery is murky and messy. And to put it simply human stuff.

+ Add to the mix this story of Jesus and the man brought to Jesus who could not see nor hear very well.

In his deafness he could only speak with great impediment. And of all things that Jesus could say to his accompanying touch of ears and tongue, he spat out the word: “Ephphatha! Be opened!”

And immediately, opened he was and opened he became.

Imagine looking at life and hearing about life and speaking about life with clogged up ears and a mouth that was impeded with stuttering sounds.

Imagine the frustration. Imagine even desiring to hide from others in shame, in the struggle.

But Jesus comes along and with a sacred touch frees us from our impediments and our sins and our shame and our struggle, allowing us to see and hear and live and love.

Ahhh, good stories — God stories.

Stories that seek to help us rediscover our innocence and God-like goodness.

Stories that help us to see and hear anew!

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Father Perry D. Leiker is the 13th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com. Follow Father Perry on Twitter: @MrDeano76.