14 February 2014
Memorial of Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop
Recently I was blessed to be able to celebrate Mass for a local community of deaf people. It was an experience unlike any other: the rapt attention of so many people to the man who was speaking their language, signing, as I preached. How I wish I could have simply said: “Ephphatha – Be opened!”
Yet it has pleased God to let hearts be moved in other ways, for the longing of these good hearts – like all our hearts – is for something far beyond physical healing, welcome and blessed as such miracles are. Most of us can hear sounds just fine: but have we opened our hearts to hear what the Lord is saying to us? Or are we like those who seeing yet do not see, and hearing do not hear….
Let us beg for the grace to hear the voice of God – let us beg Him insistently to break through any barriers we are placing in the way of His entering into the depths of our hearts and souls – and let us fearlessly proclaim the good things God has done for us.