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Super Bowl-winning player can't hear but can play

09 Feb 2014 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Jesus tells his disciples in this Sunday's gospel not hide their light but to let it shine so others can see it. Derrick Coleman of the National Football League champion Seattle Seahawks has been deaf since the age of 3 but hasn't let his condition prevent him from shining on the field, culminating in his team's Super Bowl victory last weekend over the Denver Broncos. Coleman, 23, is only the third deaf person to play in the National Football Leagure and the first to play on offense and in a Super Bowl.Coleman was born with a genetic disorder that caused him to lose his hearing by the time he was in elementary school. Early in his playing years in Pop Warner football his mother was concerned for his safety and questioned whether the hits he would take in football would hurt him further, but his father encouraged him to play football as a way to be more like the other boys his age. Though he was often made fun of early on for his bulky hearing aids, he eventually learned that his ability to focus and concentrate gave him an advantage."What football did was save my life," Coleman said. He had already begun to read lips with the help of his audiologist, but football inspired him to master lip-reading sooner and at a more expert level. "Football gave him self-esteem he never would have had," said Derrick, Sr. "After he got to prove himself, he was no longer picked last—he was picked first. Because now everybody knows this kid.. 'Oh, that kid? Yeah, Derrick with the hearing aids. Yeah, he's a great player.' So, he found his niche in life early on."Coleman played at UCLA and was hoping to get picked up in the 2011 football draft but didn’t get selected that year. The following year the Minnesota Vikings signed him onto their practice squad but he was later cut. It was not until the Seahawks signed him to their practice squad in 2012 and he received an invitation training camp that Coleman got another look. Slowly Coleman had proved himself worthy not only to make the team but also eventually become a starter for the first part of this year's NFL season.Homily hint: "You don't have to hear to be able to listen," sportswriter Tom Friend said about Derrick Coleman. Coleman's story would be inspiring in many ways even if he didn't win the Super Bowl, but perhaps most of all it serves to demonstrate how a person can not only deal with a disability but actually use it achieve. Source: An article by Tom Friend for ESPN

nfl super bowl derrick coleman seattle seahawks deaf football

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The inner word

06 Sep 2009 - Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Is there anyone whose heart is not frightened at some time or another? Thus, the Lord’s message in Isaiah is directed to all of us. When we encounter Jesus we will experience vindication and recompense. Am I willing to admit I have blind spots—about people, about opinions, even about God? What can I do to be healed of these? Who am I deaf to? Do I “show partiality” in listening to some in my congregation rather than others? What part of my life seems like a desert lately? How might I prepare myself to expect and welcome refreshing streams bursting forth in my own life? In the life of my community?

encounter jesus blind deaf

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Homily stories

06 Sep 2009 - Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Jesus cured the deaf man with the speech impediment in today’s gospel by poking him in the ear and spitting in his mouth. Oddly enough that was the common method of treatment among the healers of Jesus’ time. So what made Jesus different? Why was he thrilling the masses like no other healer before or since? I chalk it up to one simple gesture: Jesus took the deaf man “off by himself away from the crowd.” You see, Jesus wasn’t looking for glory or recognition in his ministry. What he wanted was whole and well people. He knew the best way to accomplish that was to keep himself and the sick person focused on the healing and undistracted by the crowd. And by protecting his patient from the embarrassment of peering eyes, Jesus showed a profound respect for the deaf man, which no doubt played a part in the cure. Think of the times you’ve been pulled aside by a parent, friend, boss, or mentor and been called to task or given some advice. How much better did you hear the words being spoken during those times than when someone tried to set you straight in front of roomful of people? Next time you feel someone is turning a deaf ear on you, follow Jesus’ lead and use respect, not shame, to remedy the situation.

Authors Patrice J. Tuohy

deaf jesus Respect

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Homily themes

06 Sep 2009 - Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed. Mark sees Jesus to be the fulfillment of the prophecies about the Messiah made by Isaiah, who wrote, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped” (35:5). The gospel story this week also parallels another cure in which Jesus “put saliva on” the eyes of a blind man “and laid his hands on him” (Mark 8:23). In addition to these parallel stories highlighting Christ’s fulfillment of prophecy, the deafness-mute theme speaks as well to the capacity of his followers to understand and proclaim Jesus’ teaching. To the disciples he had said, “Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear?” (Mark 8:17-18). Do we disciples today understand and profess what the Messiah tells us? Homily points Human beings need salvation from the obstructions, great and small, to fullness of life. God is established as the source of salvation in the stories we know as “salvation history.” Jesus demonstrates that he is in the saving business by doing what prophets said the messiah would do: restoring what is lost and giving what is needed. The church offers signs of our salvation in its sacramental ministry.

Authors Joel Schorn

deaf blind Salvation jesus

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The inner word

09 Sep 2018 - Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Is there anyone whose heart is not frightened at some time or another? Thus, the Lord’s message in Isaiah is directed to all of us. When we encounter Jesus, we will experience vindication and recompense. Am I willing to admit I have blind spots—about people, about opinions, even about God? What can I do to be healed of these? Who am I deaf to? Do I “show partiality” in listening to some in my congregation rather than others? What part of my life seems like a desert lately? How might I prepare myself to expect and welcome refreshing streams bursting forth in my own life? In the life of my community?

blind deaf

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Exploring the word

09 Sep 2018 - Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Like most people on the road, when it’s time for a meal, I start scanning the shop windows for signs of life. On such occasions, an “open” sign floods me with hope that a warm meal and a cold drink are within my grasp. A “closed” placard, on the other hand, dashes my spirits and sets me back to wandering. I realize it’s nothing personal, but when I’m really hungry, it can feel mighty personal, even when the sign politely reads, “Sorry, but we’re closed.” It’s still a shut door where I had hoped to be received. The brisk standardization of retail communication—you are, after all, either open or closed—made my stumbling upon an irregular sign one day an unexpected moment of hilarity. “Sorry,” the sign read, “but we’re open.” Was it an apology for the food? Or for the humility of the service that awaited me? No matter: The chutzpah of the place amused me, and I had to step inside. The spirit of open and closed is rarely so nuanced in our experience. We’re either welcome or not, in or out, one of the “haves” or the “have-nots.” In our dealings with others, and even in our relationship with God, we may find ourselves in a free-flowing exchange or apparently speaking to a brick wall. Some folks will tend toward fatalism if the brick-wall experience becomes prolonged. Nothing is going to change, we may sigh. Ill fortune is our lot. Suffering and death are inevitable. A desert will never produce a spring. And if we think this way, we are in for a surprise. To those whose hearts are frightened The prophet has a word for the timid: Be strong! Fear not! God comes to save. And what salvation means is quite concrete: senses restored, ability regained, hope renewed. In God’s plan, the lame man dances. And yes, the desert will produce a river. Any way that has been shut, God can open. Things are hardly as fixed as they may seem from where we sit in the cheap seats of the cosmos. For one who believes, there is no point when it is time to hang a closed sign on the human experience and say: No way. God always has a way. Whether or not we buy that idea is another thing entirely. We are accustomed to walking away from the neon sign flashing “Abandon Hope Ye Who Enter Here” in our needy faces. We see that sign around the bend when our children make choices that disappoint us, when rejection makes us doubt our worth, when injury brings new limitations to a life already bordered by mortality, and most of all when the angel of death first casts its shadow. We who are used to separating things into tidy categories of good and bad, rich and poor, worthy and unworthy, are ready to default with a quick judgment when we don’t get the response from life we were looking for. Is this new event in our day the signaling that a door has slammed shut or a new one is opening? If we are too quick to interpret and label our experience, we may never know. Be opened! Once upon a time Jesus met a man who couldn’t hear and therefore could scarcely speak well enough to be understood. After meeting Jesus, the man could hear and spoke plainly. Jesus said, “Don’t tell anyone.” But once a mouth has been opened, it’s hard to keep it shut. Pretty soon every mouth in the district of the Decapolis was opened and yammering about this event. “He has done all things well,” they said of Jesus. That was a pretty good assessment. Before that day, the man who had been brought to Jesus had not encountered much hope that things could be different. And suddenly everything was changed for him. All it took was a finger in his ear, a touch of spit, a groan toward heaven, and faith. We may want to add, “A whole lot of faith,” but actually that wouldn’t be true. Jesus said a mustard seed of faith would be plenty, enough to move a mountain—which is a whole lot bigger than a tongue and two ears. We may be tempted to exaggerate the complexity and difficulty of this miraculous event, but as Jesus also said, “With God all things are possible.” What makes a thing impossible, it would appear, is our insistence that it is. Applying the Word Opening the door on possibility Letting God be God is just about the hardest thing a human being can do. We are, historically and regrettably, control freaks—about the circumstances of our own lives most of all. The original and primordial sin remains the temptation to be gods ourselves, to take charge of the universe and make the rules about how it all goes. The sad thing is, God as much as gave us the power we seek in the stewardship of naming way back at the beginning of the story. What we call a thing, for better or for worse, is what it will be. A giraffe is a giraffe, so to speak, and a closed door is an immutable object. But what if we looked at the door and saw, instead of a barrier, a way out? Jesus didn’t call himself “the Way” for nothing. He, at least, had some respect for the power of naming. Miracles can happen. Peace is possible. Justice is always a decision away. Grace is available for the asking. We might think we’re damned (or in popular terminology, “screwed”), but that’s only a perception, one of many, and certainly not the most accurate one. Jesus is the one who does all things well, if we can trust the eyewitnesses. Far from being the lord of the damned, Jesus is the one who saves. A way has been opened for us, and all we have to do is walk through the door to get there. Related scripture links Be not afraid: Matt. 10:26, 28, 31; 14:27; 17:7; 28:10; Mark 5:36; 6:50; Luke 5:10; 8:50; 12:7, 32; John 6:20 Perfect love casts out fear: 1 John 4:18 With God all things are possible: Matt. 19:26; Mark 10:27 A mustard seed is enough: Matt. 13:31-32; 17:19-20; Luke 13:18-19; 17:5-6 I am the Way: John 14:6 The power of naming: Gen. 2:19 Catechism links Salvation: CCC 55; 121-125; 161; 169; 489; 1092-1095; 1168 Messiah work: CCC 1716-1724

Authors Alice Camille

Hope closed doors open doors deaf

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Homily stories

09 Sep 2018 - Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Jesus cured the deaf man with the speech impediment in today’s gospel by poking him in the ear and spitting in his mouth. Oddly enough that was the common method of treatment among the healers of Jesus’ time. So what made Jesus different? Why was he thrilling the masses like no other healer before or since? I chalk it up to one simple gesture: Jesus took the deaf man “off by himself away from the crowd.” You see, Jesus wasn’t looking for glory or recognition in his ministry. What he wanted was whole and well people. He knew the best way to accomplish that was to keep himself and the sick person focused on the healing and undistracted by the crowd. And by protecting his patient from the embarrassment of peering eyes, Jesus showed a profound respect for the deaf man, which no doubt played a part in the cure. Think of the times you’ve been pulled aside by a parent, friend, boss, or mentor and been called to task or given some advice. How much better did you hear the words being spoken during those times than when someone tried to set you straight in front of roomful of people? Next time you feel someone is turning a deaf ear on you, follow Jesus’ lead and use respect, not shame, to remedy the situation.

Authors Patrice J. Tuohy

deaf Respect

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Homily stories

09 Sep 2018 - Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

A few summers ago I was on a team that was running a men’s retreat weekend, and I was on kitchen duty. The setting was rustic and the kitchen primitive. We made meals using a few available utensils and a couple of propane rings to cook on. Other team members were enjoying interacting with the men, and I was struggling just to make a pot of oatmeal, a vat of spaghetti, or something that resembled coffee. I found myself getting angrier and angrier as the weekend went on. A friend who was on the team walked into the kitchen late Saturday afternoon and said, “Come with me. We need to get something from town.” I figured we were off to get more kitchen supplies, so I grumblingly left with him, glad, at least, for the short break from the sweltering kitchen. We went into town and my friend pulled into an A&W drive-in. He said, “You look like you could use a root beer float.” I didn’t argue. We sat in the shade enjoying our drinks. I calmed down enough to see how well the weekend was going for the men we were there to serve. I was able to hear the thanks my friend offered for tackling kitchen detail for 60 men. I found new strength to get back to the work with energy and even a smidgen of joy. And gratitude began to flow like a stream in my heart again. Sometimes it’s doesn’t take much to help a blind man see or a deaf man hear, and for streams to flow in the desert.

Authors Tom McGrath

gratitude men's retreat deaf blind

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In other words

09 Sep 2018 - Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Then he left the region of Tyre, went through Sidon back to Galilee Lake and over to the district of the Ten Towns. Some people brought a man who could neither hear nor speak and asked Jesus to lay a healing hand on him. He took the man off by himself, put his fingers in the man’s ears and some spit on the man’s tongue. Then Jesus looked up in prayer, groaned mightily, and commanded, “Ephphatha!—Open up!” And it happened. The man’s hearing was clear and his speech plain—just like that. Jesus urged them to keep it quiet, but they talked it up all the more, beside themselves with excitement. “He’s done it all and done it well. He gives hearing to the deaf, speech to the speechless” (from Mark 7). From A New Message 4 Next Week (actapublications.com) based on The Message: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition by Eugene Peterson (ACTA Publications, 2013).

deaf

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