Devotion
Ephphatha
Frances Taylor

Be opened! This word – ephphatha – is a part of the Baptismal rite. In it, we pray that the ears of the child will be open to the word of God. How can all of this be achieved if our ears are not open to listen? To whom and what do we listen? Do we listen to the Gospel so that we can follow Jesus? Do we listen to our children so that we know what is going on in their worlds? Do we listen to the voices of the poor, the unemployed, the vulnerable, so that we can find ways to help them? Or do we listen to the voice that tells us that our needs are the most important, that we know best how to live our lives, that we survived our childhoods, so our children will just have to make the best of theirs? Just as we need eyes that are open to the world around us, we need ears that are open as well. It must be difficult for people who were either born deaf, or whose hearing was lost from accident, illness or age, but it is said that when one sense fails, another becomes more acute. The man in today's Gospel was brought to Jesus by his friends who knew that Jesus was the answer. Once his ears were opened and his tongue freed from its impediment, he and his friends could not be stopped from praising God.

Prayer

Dear Lord, may we who are blessed to have eyes to see and ears to hear also open our lips in praise to our God. Amen.