NauMai September 2021
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time – Mark 7:31-37
31 Returning from the territory of Tyre, he went by way of Sidon towards the Lake of Galilee, right through the Decapolis territory. 32 And they brought him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they asked him to lay his hand on him. 33 He took him aside to be by themselves, away from the crowd, put his fingers into the man’s ears and touched his tongue with spittle. 34 Then looking up to Heaven he sighed; and he said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened’. 35 And his ears were opened, and at once the impediment of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly. 36 And Jesus ordered them to tell no one about it, but the more he insisted, the more widely they proclaimed it. 37 Their admiration was unbounded, and they said, ‘Everything he does is good, he makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.’
Reflection on the Gospel of Mark 7:31-37
Rīkona Danny Karatea-Goddard
To be the bearers of hope and compassion to the world
Meri Hōhepa, Suzanne Aubert, arrived here in Aotearoa from France in 1860. Why she chose or was called to mission to Māori, the poor and the most vulnerable was not a mystery.
When Aubert was about two years old, she fell through the icy surface of a pond onto some rocks below and became temporarily crippled and blind. Because of this traumatic incident and the premature death of her disabled brother Louis, she developed an enduring empathy for people with disabilities.
Her commitment to Māori saw her meeting Peata (Hoki) and they formed another. They became healers and face of compassion to others.
This Gospel speaks of the gift and privilege to recognise our gifts and serve others, being the arms, the heart, the mind of Christ.
She didn’t do this alone, she found companions for the journey. May we all find friends on our hīkoi, encourage each other and form each other to heal the sick and be the bearers of hope and compassion to the world.
Kia ora ai te tūroro, kia kawea te tūmanako me te pūaroha ki te ao
I tae mai a Meri Hōhepa ki Aotearoa i Wīwī i te tau 1860. Ehara i te mea he kaupapa huna te take i karangahia ia ki te manaaki i te hunga rawakore, te hunga pākorehā.
I a Meri e rua tau ana i whara ia i runga i tētehi puna waikohatu, na i tutuki ia ki runga i ētehi kohatu i raro, nā tēnā i hanga kāpō, i hanga hauā ia. Nā taua aituā me te mate ohorere o tōna tungāne a Ruihi ka pūāwai tōna ngākau pūaroha mō te hunga hauā.
Nā tōna ngākaunui ki te iwi Māori ka tūtaki ia ki a Peata (Hoki) na ka whāngai rāua i a rāua anō. Ka tuputahi rāua hei tohunga rongoā, hei mata pūaroha mō ngā iwi.
Kei roto i tēnei Rongo Pai ka kōrerotia te hōnore me te whakakitenga i a tātou, e mārama mai ai ō tātou pūmanawa ki a tātou hei mea manaaki i te tāngata, kia pērā anō ki ngā ringa, ki te ngākau me ngā whakaaronui ki tā te Karaiti.
Ehara i te mea he toatakitahi tāna haere, engari he toa takitini ke. Kia whai hoa haere tātou katoa i ō tātou haereere, me akiaki tātou i a tātou, me whāngai tētehi ki tētehi kia ora ai te tūroro, kia kawea te tūmanako me te pūaroha ki te ao.