Paul Schulte brings us the final installment in our series of Advent reflections by the MMOC Contemplative Core Team on Pope Francis’s September 5, 2021 Angelus address. If you feel called, read the whole article from Pope Francis at https://marymother.org/contemplative-prayer and send an email to [email protected] with your thoughts:
Pope Francis presented a reflection in St Peter’s Square on the healing of the deaf man in the Gospel of Mark.  The Pope’s inference that the deafness was symbolic and needed to healed before the man was able to speak, clearly causes us to look at our own ability to listen.  The Pope cautioned that the deafness of the heart causes us to close ourselves off to our Lord and our brothers and sisters.  
This Advent, as we prepare to open ourselves to the Christ child, we need to follow Jesus’s commandments.  He instructed us, “Hear o Israel, love God and love our neighbor as ourselves” (paraphrase of Mark 12:29-31).  We need to deeply listen to God as he speaks to us in his word.  We need to be quiet so our Lord can talk to us in the quiet of our hearts.  Love of God is relational and open.  To love our family and friends as Jesus commands is like this.  We need to be quiet and open to others.  We need to quietly listen.  We will then be better at loving God and our neighbor.   
Let Jesus heal us of our deafness this season.  Help us to listen better to God and to family and friends.  Have Jesus tell us, “Ephphatha, be opened” this season, so we can better speak out our praises to the New Born King.