Reflection

And they brought him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they asked him to lay his hand on him.  He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, put his finger 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 ligament in his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly.  (Mark 7:32-35).

In this Gospel a few things come to mind.  Firstly that Jesus takes the man away from the crowd to perform this miracle.  He moves him away to focus more concretely on him and to treat him with a profound respect, love and dignity.  In the days of the Gospel we assume this man would have been thought of as a sinner and his hearing and speech challenges would have been seen as a punishment for sin. This is the thoughts of the people, but Jesus sees Him and treats Him as he truly is – a man made in the image and likeness of God, with great dignity.  Here he clearly gives us a way to treat all people, but in a special way those thought of as less by the society, whoever these may be.

The second thing from the Gospel is the healing of the impediment to speech and to hearing.  Jesus is able to heal our ears and our tongues.  So much of the trouble we find ourselves in is because of what we say or what we hear.  I suspect all of us don’t hear people fully.  Sometimes we don’t listen to people’s hearts with our hearts and often assume or judge or aren’t fully present, all of which affects our hearing.  We also often speak without love or compassion, without thought or reflection. Jesus wants to heal this in us also. 

We pray today, asking Jesus the healer to heal us. To heal our ears to hear as He hears and our speech, that on our lips would be the words of Jesus, the words of love, life and compassion that build and heal.  We pray also that we may treat each and every person, especially the outcasts with profound love, compassion and dignity.

Holy Family of Nazareth – Be our inspiration and our guide

Jesus of Nazareth – Help us to grow in faith, wisdom and knowledge