Category: Uncategorized

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Gospel: Mark 7: 31-37

Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis. 
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd. 
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”)
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly. 
He ordered them not to tell anyone. 
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it. 
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well. 
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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This miracle is unique in the Gospels for several reasons.

First, only Mark records it. 

Secondly, it’s profoundly physical. 

Often, Jesus speaks and a person is healed. However, today he takes this deaf man by the hand, pulls him away from the crowds, and performs seven different steps – including spitting on his own finger and inserting it into the man’s ear – before the man is healed.

Third, Mark never translates the word Jesus uses to heal this deaf man; he writes it in the original Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke:

Ephphatha.

Be opened.

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The Church still uses this word in the Rite of Baptism. It was used in your baptism.

After a child is baptized, the priest or deacon traces the sign of the cross over the newly baptized person’s ears and mouth, saying, “Ephphatha,” be opened.

Be open to the Word of God, be open to understanding it, and be open to proclaiming it with your life.

What has my Christian journey been like since my baptism? How often do I proclaim my faith? How much time do I spend “pulled aside” being formed by the Lord, as this deaf man was?

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May the Lord help us all respond to the call of our baptism by hearing the Word of God and proclaiming it with our lives.

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Image credits: (1) St. Mary Magdalene, Enfield (2) Diocese of Allentown (3) Unsplash

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Gospel: Mark 7:24-30

Jesus went to the district of Tyre.
He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it,
but he could not escape notice.
Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him.
She came and fell at his feet.
The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth,
and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.
He said to her, “Let the children be fed first.
For it is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.”
She replied and said to him,
“Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.”
Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go.
The demon has gone out of your daughter.”
When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed
and the demon gone.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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This is one of only two miracles that Jesus performs at a distance. Meaning, the person being healed is not physically present.

In this case, a desperate mother falls at the feet of Jesus, telling him that her daughter is being tormented by a demon. 

In the ancient world, a “demon” could’ve been anything – something as mild as a temper, more serious like mental illness, or an actual demonic possession.

We don’t know what the case was, only that this little girl needed to be healed. 

Interestingly, the other miracle Jesus performs at a distance is the healing of another child: Jairus’ twelve-year-old daughter. In both cases, the children are Gentiles, not Jews.

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Why would Jesus heal a Gentile? And why would he heal someone at a distance?

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To emphasize two things:

First, Jesus came to save all people.

Secondly, healing a person from a distance re-enforces the intercessor’s faith – in this case the mother – which is what Jesus wants from everyone.

This mom has no proof that her daughter had been healed other than Jesus’ words, “You may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.”

Yet that was enough, which is why the Lord says elsewhere, “Not in all of Israel have I found such faith.”

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Just as the Lord healed children at a distance, all we need to experience his healing power is an open heart filled with faith.

“Ask and you shall receive,” he says, “seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened for you.”

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Image credits: (1) IMPACT Church Parkersburg (2) Benedictine College Medium and Culture (3) Etsy

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Gospel: Mark 7:14-23

Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them,
“Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.” 

When he got home away from the crowd
his disciples questioned him about the parable.
He said to them,
“Are even you likewise without understanding?
Do you not realize that everything
that goes into a person from outside cannot defile,
since it enters not the heart but the stomach
and passes out into the latrine?”
(Thus he declared all foods clean.)
“But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him.
From within the man, from his heart,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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“Nothing that enters one from outside can defile,” Jesus says, “but the things that come out from within are what defile.”

In Judaism, to be “defiled” meant that a person lost access to the Temple, and therefore access to God. In order to remain pure – or “undefiled” – religious scholars created over 600 commandments that observant Jews needed to follow.

This included everything from the washing of hands and dishes to the treatment of birds. Jesus overrides these commandments and insists upon one thing only:

A pure heart.

“From within a person, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, and greed,” says the Lord. These things sour our relationship with God and with our neighbors.

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The Native Americans believe in a similar idea, stated in a different way.

They say there are two wolves living within each of us. One feeds on negativity – things like selfishness and anger – while the other feeds on positivity – things like hope and love.

The question is: “Which wolf wins?”

The one we feed.

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May we make every effort, in the words of Saint Peter, “to be found without spot or blemish before God.” 

Holy, undefiled, by feeding that good wolf – Christ – within.

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Image credits: (1) Hope 103.2 (2) Chabad.org (3) Apostles of the Interior Life