September 8, 2024: “Deaf, Mute, and Disabled (NOT)” with Mary Jo Iozzio

Catholic Women Preach

Preaching for the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Mary Jo Iozzio offers a reflection that challenges us to expand our understanding of Jesus' healing miracles: "Perhaps another direction for the healing was uttered, maybe it was Jesus and the crowd who began to understand the man’s manner of communication. The 'Ephphatha' challenges us to welcome the deaf, the mute, the blind, and those with physical and/or developmental disabilities as they/as we are. By Jesus’ action in a disability perspective, maybe, just maybe, the 'Ephphatha' freed the crowd from their language barriers such that they began to understand their man." Mary Jo Iozzio, Ph.D. is Professor of Moral Theology at Boston College School's Clough School of Theology and Ministry. She earned her doctorate in Systematic Theology with a focus on Moral Theology in 1994, and a License in Sacred Theology-STL with a focus on disability in 2019 - both from Boston College. Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/09082024 to learn more about Mary Jo, to read her preaching text, and for more preaching from Catholic women.