Homily for September 9

Homily for the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Scriptures for today's Mass

Audio

Ephphatha!  That’s a strange word!

How many words do you know that have three H’s ?

Of course, this is Aramaic - the language Jesus spoke. Ephphatha!  

Sounds strange to our ears but when we know its meaning,

“Be opened!”

and when we see with what power Jesus spoke that word,

it sounds beautiful and awesome.

Ephphatha!

Let’s see how it feels, how it sounds when we speak it.

Let’s try saying it together: Ephphatha!   Ephphatha!

Be opened.

Of course, the miracles of Jesus were always signs,

the physical change being a sign of some greater, spiritual change.

Even those, then, whose hearing and speech are not impaired,

might pray for Jesus to speak his powerful Ephphatha! in our lives.

Suppose, then, that Jesus came into our church right now

and began to walk among us, touching our ears

and blessing our tongues and saying,

Ephphatha! Be opened! 

Suppose he touched your ears. Ephphatha!  

Hear me and be open to that word I’ve been speaking to you for years,

you know, that one word, that the message         

you’re afraid to hear or don’t want to hear,

the word that challenges you and calls you to make some changes.

Ephphatha!   Be opened to the word I speak to you.

Suppose he touched your lips and said:

“Ephphatha!

Open your mouth to speak, to speak clearly about your faith

and to speak plainly of your faith to others,

sharing with them the peace you find in believing,

in trusting, in hoping in God.

“Ephphatha!  Open your mouth and pray - speak to me!

Share with me your good times and bad times:

speak to me - I love to listen to your voice.

“Ephphatha!

Open your ears to hear the truth.

Take out the ear plugs of your prejudice, bias and political correctness.

Open your ears and thus your mind and heart, too.

Open your ears and listen, hear the truth others speak to you,

the truth that may be spoken by those you’ve tuned out.

Open your ears and hear

not just the slice of truth or version of the truth that may be yours

but open your ears and listen for the whole truth.

“Ephphatha!

Open your mouth and speak the just word, the caring word.

Speak a word of compassion, a word of challenge, a word of mercy,

Open your mouth and speak plainly the word that reconciles,

that word that makes peace, the word that forgives.

“Open your mouth and speak with love to those are not loved,

speak a word of welcome to those who are not included,

speak a gentle word to those who have been battered.”

And what might the Lord say today to the Church, the whole Church,

to our humbled, broken Church?

“Ephphatha!

Open your ears and hear me, dear Church

and hear the cry of the poor,

especially those whose lives are impoverished and wounded

by your neglect and your self-importance.

Open your ears and listen, carefully, for the voices in need

of your attention, your care, your service.

Open your ears and hear my voice, my word, instructing you

and seeking to shape the message you speak in my name.

“Ephphatha!

Open your mouth, dear Church and speak the truth you know.

Open your mouth and say what must be said

that the truth may be served.

Open your mouth and with a clear voice speak plainly

of the love I have for my people, the healing I offer

and the justice I demand

until that day when streams will burst forth in the desert

and the burning sands become refreshing pools

and the thirsty ground a spring of water.”

Ephphatha! Be opened!

What would Jesus heal and open

in my heart’s ears and yours, in my voice and yours?

What would Jesus heal and open

that the Church might more accurately hear and plainly speak

the truth that is ours in Christ.

Miracles may not happen today as they did in Jesus’ day

but we need miracles today

perhaps even more than in ancient times.

And I believe,

I truly believe, that the Spirit of the risen Jesus is present

and powerfully present in our lives, yours and mine,

and in the life of the Church.

I believe that the Spirit of the risen Christ moves among us even now,

touching the ears of our hearts and minds          

and opening them to hear his word

and opening our voices to speak the truth

the truth we come to know through faith in God.

I believe the Lord is walking among us and touching us and saying,

Ephphatha!  Be opened!

We gather at this altar, we gather as the Church,

a Church humbled and broken,

a Church that needs to repent, reform, reshape and rebuild.

And at this table, Jesus gives us himself as food for the soul,

making his dwelling place among us and within us

that we might more clearly hear his word and speak it plainly

with the power of his Spirit who heals us and makes us one.

Ephphatha!   Be opened.

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