Be Opened!

When we hear the word “Ephphatha” being said in the Sacred Scriptures or at the liturgy, we tend to think it must be some kind of word that the Lord Jesus used (from an ancient and dead language). However, the word “Ephphatha” is used a lot in the life of the Church! It is a commanding word meaning, “Be opened!” Many of us heard it when we were baptized, but many will not remember it. Many of us will see it in a Gospel reading at Mass or when we read the Bible. Nonetheless, there is a deeper meaning behind the word, and I would like to take the time to reflect on its significance in our life of Christian faith and discipleship so we can remain open and willing to seek and follow God‘s will and His presence.

In the Rite of Baptism for children, the Ephphata rite is done after the priest (or deacon) bestows the white baptismal vestment on the newly-baptized and asks the godparents to light the candle. The words to this simple but powerful rite say, “The Lord Jesus made the deaf hear and the dumb speak. May he soon touch your ears to receive his word, and your mouth to proclaim his faith, to the praise and glory of God the Father.”

Read the words again… slowly… Can you hear and understand what the Church is trying to teach?

Each and every one of us had our ears opened to listen and receive His word of life through a life of prayers. Each and every one of us had our mouth opened to proclaim our tried, tested, and true faith — one that is not simply “live” on the lips of our mouth — to the praise and glory of God! Perhaps many unfortunate and divisive things are happening in our society and the larger world because we have only forgotten to listen and speak His word and proclaim our faith with genuine humility, commitment, and service. Perhaps we have become people who quickly react and vocalize our opinions, but we have not taken the time to reflect, pray, seek, and discern the will of God.

As a matter of fact, popular media platforms have conditioned us to immediately react and become “keyboard warriors” who hide behind the screens of our phones, mobile devices, or computers. It is so easy to simply push the button to “express” our reactions to someone’s posts or opinions and provide our own with simple clicks and swipes. We have become people who tend to hear and speak on a needed basis instead of authentic, genuine, and heartfelt listening and proclamation of the Living Word of God that lifts our hearts and sets us free. We have become so vocal and divisive because we dwell on passing opinions, wanting to have our own pieces of game and voices heard, but no one is really cooperating, listening, or valuing others. We have made public forums into places of arguments and agenda-driven marketplaces instead of respectful and common discourse.

I believe we are where we are today because we have become busy and preoccupied people who speak and argue, wasting time proving that we are right and better than others instead of truly letting our lives of faith be enlivened in words and actions by how we listen to God‘s will and speak His words with kindness, humility, and genuine acts of service to our brothers and sisters. If we only care about our own selves, our politics, our points of view, our agendas, and whatever we want to prove, we only care about ourselves — even if we use Sacred Scriptures and the Church teachings! If we remain self-righteous, we remain in our own prideful efforts to be pretentious in proving ourselves to be somehow better than other people. Nonetheless, we have not changed anyone! It is too sad but too real that we are living in a world where we remain on our very own thrones to judge others and expect people to change to fit our standards and expectations, but we have not changed ourselves to become genuine, kind, humble, and committed servants of the Lord.

Change has to begin with us, especially how we come to prayer. We need to learn to how to spend and waste time with God well! Do not rush and treat Him like a puppet or servant, expecting Him to somehow answer and be present when we have “time” or rush through a short moment of prayers. He has given us two ears to first listen, not to force Him to listen to us alone. Second, learn to speak from our heart and proclaim what He has done in our lives with a life of discipleship and genuine service to those who are around us. If we truly believe that God knows us and sees our deepest desires and intentions, we live and serve others because we love Him — not because we want to prove ourselves to others. We are called to proclaim what He has done for us, especially how patient, loving, merciful, and kind He has been to us even when we have failed to love Him! We proclaim our faith not to be pretentious, to praise, or glorify ourselves, but because we truly believe and want to share what the Lord has done in loving us.

Saint Francis of Assisi taught us to preach the Gospel at all times, and only when necessary, use words! That means that we preach “louder,” and our proclamation of the Good News becomes more effective when we live it with a life of genuine discipleship and faithful service. Furthermore, Mother Teresa of Kolkata taught us to choose to love even when it gets hard. As many of us know, she lived many years in what spiritual masters called “dark nights of the soul.” Even though she struggled to humanly sense Jesus‘ presence, at times cannot feel that He is with her, she persisted and stayed faithful to her vocation of prayer and service. She never gave up on prayer and never stopped serving the Lord in the poorest of the poor.

Even though Mother Teresa did not sense her Lover‘s presence, everyone else could see His presence in her. She chose to love even though it was personally hard for her! Hence, this is what genuine love and faith are all about. The saints have taught us valuable lessons through their own lives. We have to find the presence of the Lord in our own lives, too! We begin everything through a life of prayer, listening, seeking, and discerning all things that are going on; second, through a life of humble service to all, even if it gets hard and challenging because we belong to God, and He sees our hearts.

We must find our Kolkata and seek the Lord‘s presence in the poor around us. Like Mother Teresa, who found her vocation of service in the slums of India, and St. Francis of Assisi in his life of simplicity in living and preaching the Gospel, we can find the poor and live our discipleship right where we are! The poorest of the poor are not simply people who are without money, but here in America, they are often the people who are not loved, neglected, and forgotten. In a society of abundance where we seem to have many things, we often lack genuine loving service and charity in words and actions. There are so many people who are lost and impoverished deep from within because they do not know who they are, hopeless and lost because they try too hard to be what the world wants of them but do not know the Lord. In such a cold, heartless, and lost world, we need to be Mother Teresa, St. Francis, and disciples of the Lord by genuinely trusting, listening, and proclaiming the Gospel in our very own lives.

The life of faith is never about a popularity contest, seeking to see who is holier, better, or influential. The most unfortunate thing is to live and speak loudly but change no one. The most wasteful time is to expect others to change to meet our demands and expectations, but we remain unchanged, at times, too, angry and resentful because no one seems to meet our standards. Change is hard, and it has to begin with how we choose to humble ourselves and listen and proclaim what we have received in our lives of Christian discipleship.