WEBVTT

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Glory to Jesus Christ. Today's Gospel, which

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is taken from the selections from the Gospel

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of St. Matthew, which we see being read now in

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the summertime, we see two miracles that Jesus

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performs. The two blind men to whom he gives

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sight, and then the man who couldn't speak, and

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Jesus... casts out the demon, so to speak, and

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he's able to speak again, or to speak for the

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first time. This prompts me, and I would suggest

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you as well, to thank God for the two gifts that

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he has given to us, the gift of speech and the

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gift of sight. Today's gospel, I should say,

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before I get too far into that, there's a consistent

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interpretation about these blind men that the

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fathers see the irony that these blind men have

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spiritual vision and they can call Jesus son

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of David, which is a messianic title. So they

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acknowledge him to be the Messiah and it's the

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grumbling Pharisees. that are in the audience

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that they won't accept that. As a matter of fact,

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they're contemptuous words. He casts out demons

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by the prince of demons. How terrible to attribute

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to evil the good work that's performed. But again,

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these gifts that God has given to us, the gift

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of vision and the gift of speech. Vision. We

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take that so much for granted. But then we know

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that there are some people, and I think of one

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person in particular. There's a young girl about

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10 or 12 years old. She's in one of our parishes.

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As a matter of fact, she's the daughter of our

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priest who's in Eureka, California. And she has

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a medical condition. about which the doctors

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can't correct by surgery. And she's in danger

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of perhaps eventually going blind. So her name

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is Monica, and I would commend Monica to your

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prayers to join them with mine and other people

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in the diocese that God will continue to give

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her the gift of vision. That vision, as I said,

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is a gift that God has given to us that we take

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for granted. This past week, I took my driver's

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renewal test, and I passed the vision test, but

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the written test is another matter. I passed

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it, but don't underestimate those when you come

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up for your renewal. The gift of speaking. Two

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instances that I can mention to you. When I was

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growing up in our neighborhood, there were two

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kids that we played with, and their parents couldn't

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speak. They couldn't make noises, and the children

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understood what the parents could make, and I

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remember them vividly. how they would make these

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noises and communicate through noises rather

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than the normal manner of communication, which

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is speech. And then the other one, which occurred

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more recently, actually when we were still in

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Michigan, doorbell rang one afternoon and Matushka

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went to get it. And, of course, I was in another

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room. When she finished, I asked her, well, what

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was that? She said, well, there's a fellow here.

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I bought these two soup bowls. And I thought,

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why do you want to buy soup bowls? And the fellow

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who was at the door had a card, and he said,

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I'm mute. I cannot speak. And I sell these to

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try and make a living. And I thought, boy. I

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don't know how I would have, I might have said

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no thank you. But every time I use those soup

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bowls, I think of that incident. But how we can

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abuse these gifts of vision and speech. Vision,

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of course, to look at things we shouldn't look

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at. And of course, that doesn't need any elaboration.

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More frequently, I think, is dirty looks and

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stink eye. That's a young kid's expression that

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I don't think I had heard until recently. How

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that can really hurt you if someone gives you

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a dirty look or a stink eye. How much nicer it

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is when we're tempted to give someone a dirty

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look to sort of smile and nod, something like

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that. The tongue is another thing. How often

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we can sin with our tongue. The scriptures say

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rather often that the tongue is sharper than

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any two -edged sword and how we can use that

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tongue to praise God, to say nice things rather

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than to be malicious. You've probably heard that

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once in a while we run into in our life, it's

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a rare person, but someone that you can say,

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I've never heard him or her say a bad word about

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anyone. Doesn't that sort of make me feel bad

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that there are people like that? Of course, it

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should be an inspiration for us to watch what

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we say. If we don't have something good to say

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about someone, better not to say it at all. Even

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simple things like griping. Do you know what

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arping means? That's a word that I've learned

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out here from the Urban Dictionary of all things.

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It's from AARP, retired people. Arping is a person...

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usually an elderly person who's constantly complaining

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about things that he can't do anything about.

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That's arping. Now, I imagine arping isn't a

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sin in and of itself, but who wants to be around

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someone who's arping all the time? Again, how

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we use our tongue. We ask the Lord to... guard

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our sight, to guard our lips. Just this morning

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I was reading Psalm 17, and one of the verses

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is, If thou testest me, thou wilt find no wickedness

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in me. My mouth does not transgress. Oh, if only

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I could and we could say that more frequently.

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To use our tongue to praise God. to praise other

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people, to use our vision, to read the scriptures,

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to study, to thank God especially for these two

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gifts that we again take for granted, the gift

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of sight and the gift of speech. And we ask God

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that he will allow us to use these two precious

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gifts that he has given to us. to his praise

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and glory forever and ever. Amen.