“Ephphatha – Be opened” – (Mark 7:31-37)
At every baptism the priest touches the ears and the mouth of the newly baptised with his thumb saying: “The Lord Jesus made the deaf hear and the dumb speak. May he soon touch your ears to receive his word and your mouth to proclaim his faith, to the praise and glory of God the Father”.
This happened to each of us at our baptism and in many ways we should be still praying this prayer daily. For each day we need to hear anew the Good news of the Gospel in our lives and the grace to have the courage to proclaim it by living our faith in the many and varied circumstances of our lives.
Our lives are a constant movement between these two realities, both hearing anew the Gospel and proclaiming it by the lives we live. To live it more deeply we need to hear it more deeply. Hearing always comes first.
As Pope Benedict XVI reminded us at World Youth day in Sydney: “What constitutes our faith is not primarily what we do but what we receive. After all, many generous people who are not Christian may well achieve far more than we do. Friends, do you accept being drawn into God’s Trinitarian Life? Do you accept being drawn into His communion of Love”.
Let us pray that we will be open to God’s word each day and having heard the Lord then to have the courage to proclaim Him to the [praise and the glory of God the Father.
Fr. John Harris OP