Ephphatha!  Be Opened

At the heart of today’s Gospel (Mk 7:31-37) there is a small but very important word.  A word that, in its deepest meaning, sums up the whole message and the whole mission of Christ.  Saint Mark writes it in the same language that Jesus pronounced it, so that it is even more alive to us. That word is “Ephphatha,” which means, “be opened”. 

In today’s Gospel Jesus cures a deaf man with a speech impediment.  We all know and can imagine the suffering this man went through for being deaf and dumb. He was totally isolated from the world.  But we all know that isolation for a man is not solely a result of his sense organ.  There is an inner closing, which covers the deepest core of the person, what the Bible calls the “heart”.  That is what Jesus came to “open”, to liberate, to enable us to fully live our relationship with God and with others.  Jesus became man so that man, made inwardly deaf and dumb by sin, would become able to hear the voice of God, the voice of love speaking to his heart, and learn to speak in the language of love, to communicate with God and with others.

With all the distractions, pressures, deadlines, and bills … complications … it is hard to be fully open. But once we are, and continually, it makes all the difference. Let us pray that our spiritual infirmities may be cured, so that our ears may be open to listen attentively to the Lord’s life-giving teachings, and our speech may plainly profess our faith in him.  May God bless you!