Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
“(Jesus) looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”)
In the Church’s rite for of baptizing an infant, there is this entry: Ephphetha or Prayer Over Ears and Mouth. In this ritual, performed at the discretion of the celebrant, he touches the ears and mouth of each child with his thumb, saying:
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.
“May he soon touch….” This is a fine example of how the sacramental life “works.” In baptism, Jesus is acting in and though his faith¬ful people: in the minister of the sacrament and, as time goes on, in the parents, godparents and grandparents, who teach the child about God.
This “touching” continues in the life of the family where parents and brothers and sisters and others touch the child in words and deeds!
This touching continues in the emerging mind and heart of the child where meaning enfolds. When the Church prays for the child “to receive his word,” it has to do with meaning. And this meaning the child “hears” not only by words, but also through body language. This is beautifully seen in the Eucharistic celebration, where the child comes to hear the Word of God and offers his or her life with Christ to the Father. The touching here, as Pope Francis has beautifully reminds us of in Desiderio Desideravi, often comes through symbol.
The Liturgy does not leave us alone to search out an individual supposed knowledge of the mystery of God. Rather, it takes us by the hand, together, as an assembly, to lead us deep within the mystery that the Word and the sacramental signs reveal to us. And it does this, consistent with all action of God, following the way of the Incarnation, that is, by means of the symbolic language of the body, which extends to things in space and time.
We do not always “hear” this touching as well as we would like. Yet, if we consistently do the things which, over the long run, promote hearing the word of God and do them paying attention to what we are doing—that is, reverently—we can we learn the Spirit’s guiding word and live our faith, to the praise and glory of God the Father.
Reflection by Fr. Xavier Nacke, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections