Catechetical Awareness Month for September,
Sunday Sermon, September 6, 2009

The teacher gathered her Sunday school group around her and exclaimed, “Well, class, all those who want to go to heaven raise your hands.”
Everyone around the circle raised their hands, except one boy.
Don’t you want to go to heaven, Henry?” asked the teacher.
“I can’t, ma’am,” Henry replied, “My mom wants me to come straight home.”
Today’s Gospel describes a brief episode in which Jesus was asked to lay His hands on “a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech … He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, put His fingers into the man’s ears and touched his tongue with spittle. Then looking up to heaven He sighed; and He said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is ‘Be opened.’ And his ears were opened, and the ligament of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly” (Mk. 7:32-35). The people who witnessed this miracle were filled with awe and wonder. In the Gospel writer’s words, “their admiration was unbounded. He has done all things well …” (Mk. 7:37).

Your admiration will be unbounded the day you begin to understand that you are special in God’s creative plan. Each of you is one of God’s “originals” — wonderfully mysterious in your own uniqueness. Like the Universe itself, your life is vast and in motion. You are necessary. You belong. God’s plan for the fulfillment of His creation includes you, needs you.
As we celebrate the “Catechetical Month for September” with the theme: “Year of the Priest; Come and Share in the Prophetic, Priestly and Kingly Missions of Jesus.”, we are all invited to reflect on the importance of every child in our church today. Jesus in the new Testament would always emphasize to his disciples that these little children occupy a special place in his heart. He would say to them that unless you become like these little children you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Truly, these children just like you, are all important before the loving eyes of God our Father. And Jesus wants that all these children will go to heaven.
For years, we have been conducting CCD classes in the parish, trying to bring these children closer to God, teaching them our basic doctrines and faithfully transmitting on them the rich deposit of our Catholic faith.
It is through Catechesis that we echo the very words of Jesus in the Gospel today. “Ephphetha” which means “Be opened.” We open the very heart and soul of every child to the grace and wisdom of God every time we speak to them about God and our faith. We open the very person of every child to become a good child every time we explain to him how much God loves him. We are forming every child to become a good catholic Christian every time we introduce him to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.
Let us remember that during the Rite of Baptism, the priest or deacon may whisper into the ear of the newly baptized the word “Ephphetha.” This ritual element holds a prayer that the one who has been baptized will always be open to the life-giving Word of God, the Word that offers direction, meaning and purpose for those who listen to it and put it into practice.
The prayer that Jesus uttered over the deaf man in the Gospel is His ardent desire for all of us, (including the little children in our congregation): that by being open to His Word we might be liberated from our sins and walk in the freedom of the sons and daughters of God. We echo this prayer when we make the sign of the cross over our forehead, lips and heart as the Gospel is proclaimed, praying that God’s powerful Word might always be in our minds and on our lips and in our hearts, and most especially in the hearts, minds and souls of all our children in CCD.
Our sincere gratitude for all those volunteers who joyfully dedicated themselves in the service of God through teaching and helping in our catechetical program. They are instruments in echoing the Word of God and the Love of God to all these little ones. They truly are God’s messengers of Truth here on earth.
For all the parents, we ask your continued support and prayers for our CCD program. Please remember that family as “domestic church” is the most important Christian influence since it is in the home that a child learns their faith first. And formal religious formation classes reinforce the traditions of faith and each student’s Roman Catholic identity while the parish supports students in learning to celebrate that faith in community.
To all parishioners, keep in your heart and mind our little children and our CCD program. The success of our church depends on how deeply rooted is our faith in God. And CCD program and our support as a community play an important role.

The substitute teacher was struggling to open a lock on the Sunday school supply cabinet. She’d been told the combination but couldn’t quite remember it. Finally she went to the pastor’s study and asked for help.
When the minister began to twist the dial, he paused after the first couple of numbers and stared blankly. Finally, he looked heavenward and his lips moved silently, then he looked back at the lock, turned to the final numbers, and clicked open the hasp.
The teacher was amazed. “I’m in awe of your faith, Pastor.”
“It is really nothing,” he responded. “The numbers are on a piece of tape on the ceiling.”
At any rate, for us to successfully echo “Ephphetha” and open the hearts of every special person like you and the little ones and make them closer to God and in the Holy Eucharist, let us also look up heavenward always, because it is only in Him and through Him that we successfully and effectively participate in the prophetic, priestly and kingly missions of Jesus Christ.