By David Peter, CSC –
Readings: 1Kgs 11:29-32, 12:19; Mk 7:31-37
‘Ephphatha – Be Opened’, today we celebrate the day of love. Love changes the whole world. St. Valentine is regarded as patron of lovers. This day is a day of greetings and gifts for all of us.
The word of God is a precious gift to all of us that we receive each day. Word of God holds a very significant place in our daily life because at all points of our life we can identify ourselves with the word of God. We identify with the word of God at time of happiness, gratitude, lamentation, consolation, and so on. In today’s Gospel we hear the words of Jesus ‘Ephphatha – Be Opened’.
The words ‘be opened’ has the possibility to affect our everyday life. It is a call to transform ourselves from closed mentality to open mentality, from various types of rejection to acceptance and from hatred to love. We exist in the world with our limitation and hardships. It is not easy to accept our failures. Yet today once again the voice of Jesus calls us to inculcate openness to accept the reality of the world and receive others and their words into our life.
To live the words of Jesus in today’s context let us place ourselves in the shoes of our neighbor so that we come to know them and their struggles. It is a call to be true witnesses and radical disciples of our master by being a part of others. Human beings need other human beings to develop their identities. On this day let us integrate the word of God and seek God’s grace that our ears be opened to listen the cry of the people, our eyes be opened to see the people in need and suffering, our lips be opened to speak against the social evils and injustice, our mind be opened to gain wisdom, knowledge, and our heart be opened to seek Jesus and to be human.