Friday of week 5 in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Mark 7:31-37
In today’s Gospel, the healing of the deaf man is strikingly personal. Jesus takes him aside, away from the crowd, touches his ears and his tongue, looks up to heaven, sighs, and then speaks the powerful word: “Ephphatha, Be opened.” This is not a distant or impersonal miracle; it is an intimate encounter. The Lord enters the man’s silence and isolation, touching precisely the places that are closed and bound. Healing from Jesus is never generic, it is personal, attentive, and compassionate. He knows exactly where we are unable to listen and where we struggle to speak truthfully and lovingly. Today’s Gospel invites us to allow Christ to take us aside in prayer, away from the noise and expectations of others, so that He may touch what is blocked within us and pronounce over our lives His liberating word: “Be opened.” Let’s reflect: What in my life remains closed, unable to truly listen or to speak with freedom, and am I willing to let Jesus take me aside and say over me, “Ephphatha, be opened”?
Don Giorgio