Ephphatha: Be Opened

There are moments in the Gospels when a single word seems to carry an entire lifetime of spiritual transformation.

Ephphatha is one of those words.

Preserved in the original Aramaic, it is among the very few occasions where the Gospel writers chose not to translate the words of Jesus, allowing us instead to hear the very sound that came from His lips.

Jesus had been brought a man who could scarcely hear and struggled to speak.

Rather than healing him before the crowd, Jesus led him away into a place of quiet.

He touched the man's ears.

He touched his tongue.

He lifted His eyes towards heaven.

He sighed.

And then He spoke just one word.

Ephphatha.

"Be opened."

At first glance, these words appear to concern the opening of deaf ears.

Yet the early Church heard something much deeper.

They recognised that Christ was not simply opening a man's hearing.

He was opening a human life.

For this reason, the Church has carried the Ephphatha Rite through the centuries, often as part of Baptism. Touching the ears and the mouth, the priest prays that we may become open to receive the Word of God and open to proclaim His praise.

Before we are called to speak, we are invited to listen.

Before we proclaim truth, we are asked to become open to it.

Before we change the world, Christ gently opens the places within us that have become closed through fear, grief, disappointment or self-protection.

Perhaps Ephphatha is not simply a miracle from long ago.

Perhaps it is Christ's continual invitation to every human heart.

Be opened.

Simply allowing ourselves, little by little, to become open to the One who has been gently calling our name all along.