5TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Psalter: Week 1 / (Green)
Ps 81:10-11ab, 12-13, 14-15
I am the Lord, your God: hear my voice.
1st Reading: 1 K 11:29-32; 12:19
Once, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah of Shiloh found him on the road. The two of them were alone in the open country when Ahijah, who had a new garment on, clutched and tore it into twelve pieces. He then said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself for this is the word of Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom from Solomon’s hands to give you ten tribes. Only one tribe shall be left to him for the sake of my servant David and Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.
So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to the present time.
Gospel: Mk 7:31-37
Again, Jesus set out: from the country of Tyre he passed through Sidon and, skirting the sea of Galilee, he came to the territory of Decapolis. There, a deaf man, who also had difficulty in speaking, was brought to him. They asked Jesus to lay his hand upon him. Jesus took him apart from the crowd, put his fingers into the man’s ears, and touched his tongue with spittle. Then, looking up to heaven, he said with a deep sigh, “Ephphata!” that is, “Be opened!”
And immediately, his ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak clearly. Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone about it; but the more he insisted, the more they proclaimed it. The people were completely astonished and said, “He has done all things well; he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.”
Reflections
HIS EARS WERE OPENED
I am sure that even how much we try, we will never truly know how it feels to be deaf — to hear no sound, to live in absolute silence. Imagine not being able to listen to the voice of your loved ones, to listen to the sounds of nature — the chirping of birds, the tinkle of water, the rush of rivers, the sound of waves. Imagine not being able to listen to music — to Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, etc. or even to the singing of a children’s choir. We take these things for granted and yet what a great difference to our lives if we lose this hearing capacity. But there are other kinds of deafness besides the physical one. We can be deaf to God’s call to a certain vocation. We can turn a deaf ear to our conscience whispering to us to avoid evil and to do good. We can be deaf to our parents, teachers or guardians who try to guide us. We can be deaf to the cries of the poor, the needy, the abandoned, the persecuted, to the victims of violence. We close our ears to the groaning of nature raped by human greed and desecrated by pollution. When Jesus looked upon the deaf person in the Gospel, touched his ears and commanded it to be opened, the person must have fallen into ecstatic bliss when he began to hear again. We do not need a miracle to open the ears of our heart to listen to God’s voice speaking to us in the depth of our heart and in nature and people around us.
Daily Reflection 2018
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Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL
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