Healing torn ligaments

Fans of football in all its forms, and indeed of all field sports will probably agree that nowadays one of the worst words we can hear in connection with a footballer or athlete is “ligament”.  Bruised, torn, strained or damaged, ligament trouble is the bane of modern sports, the injury that respects no level of fitness, the unexpected wrench which can change the fortunes of an entire team and bring an end to the long crusade that is the Championship or Cup.  The ligament is that tough but flexible band of tissue that binds bones together, a bond of union in the body that makes movement possible while maintaining balance and bolstering bones.

 By loosening the ligament of his tongue, Jesus restored the balance within the deaf man so that his ears were opened and the impediment in his speech removed.  The first reading speaks of God’s work as restoring all kinds of ligaments, or bonds or balances in the human body and in Nature’s body too.  Not only does our Saviour God let the lame leap like a deer but the bruised, battered and torn ligaments of Nature are also healed as extremes of climate are modified and “water gushes in the desert, streams in the wasteland.” 

Could it be that the disharmony in Nature, and our present day climate extremes are an extension and result of the torn ligaments in society, in relationships, and ultimately between God and ourselves?  Our second reading today speaks of the torn ligaments that result from “making distinctions between classes of people” which is an affront to God and utterly incompatible with faith in Jesus Christ.

Restoring right relations, looking to the ligaments that link us within ourselves, among ourselves, between ourselves and our world - these are the designs of many of the most highly motivated in our world from the medical and social services to the conservationists and the ecologists.  Sometimes, sadly perhaps more and more often, the link or ligament between all our efforts and the Lord, “the ligament of life” is lost, and we lose sight of the simple truth expressed in today’s responsorial psalm:  “It is the Lord who keeps faith forever… who gives sight to the blind… who loves the just… who raises up those who are bowed down…”  Time perhaps for each of us to make our own the prayer of the gospel acclamation as we try to link up with the Lord, the Ligament of Life:  “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening:  you have the message of eternal life.”

Fr. Eamon Devlin, C.M.

17th September, 2006