Speak out, for your lips have been opened
1. Lord, Open Our Ears and Lips
2. Ephphatha! Be Opened!
Introduction by the Celebrant
1. Lord, Open Our Ears and Lips!
We live in era of communication explosion: fax, E-mail, internet or web, and so on. And at the same time, it is an age of isolation and loneliness of people. What people have is information, and what they have lost is personal relations. In this Eucharist we pray to the Lord, to open our ears. that we may again listen to one another and to God speaking to us. May we also learn again to speak to one another, person to person.
2. Ephphatha! Be Opened!
The sign that Jesus is the promised Saviour is that he first goes to the poor, the sick, the marginalized people, for they need him most. Not only material poverty is meant. The deaf and the mute, the hard of hearing and the stammers are we who are shut up within ourselves, often closed to God and one another. Jesus comes to open our ears and mouths to the words and deeds of God, that we may listen to his message and respond to his love, and that we may also hear the poor and speak to them with our help. Let Jesus in the Eucharist heal us and commit us to God and people.
First Reading: The Ears of the Deaf Shall Be Opened
To a people deaf and blind to God, the prophet announces the joy of salvation: they will see and hear and become new.
1 Reading Isaiah 35:4-7a
Thus says the LORD:
Say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
with divine recompense
he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.
Streams will burst forth in the desert,
and rivers in the steppe.
The burning sands will become pools,
and the thirsty ground, springs of water.
Responsorial Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10
R. (1b) Praise the Lord, my soul! or: R. Alleluia.
The God of Jacob keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul! or: R. Alleluia.
The LORD gives sight to the blind;
the LORD raises up those who were bowed down.
The LORD loves the just;
the LORD protects strangers.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul! or: R. Alleluia.
The fatherless and the widow the LORD sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul! or: R. Alleluia.
Second Reading: No Double Standard! God Loves the Poor
It is a betrayal of the Christian sense of community to honour the rich and humiliate the poor, says James. God loves the poor and makes them rich in faith.
2 Reading James 2:1-5
My brothers and sisters, show no partiality
as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.
For if a man with gold rings and fine clothes
comes into your assembly,
and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in,
and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes
and say, “Sit here, please, ”
while you say to the poor one, “Stand there, ” or “Sit at my feet, ”
have you not made distinctions among yourselves
and become judges with evil designs?
Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters.
Did not God choose those who are poor in the world
to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom
that he promised to those who love him?
Alleluia. Matthew 4:23
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: Be Opened!
The deaf-mute stands for those closed to God. Jesus came to open people to God, so that they can praise his great deeds. His attention to the poor is the sign that the kingdom has come.
Gospel Mark 7:31-37
Again Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” —
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Commentary
The following story relates to the second reading. A young man was searching for the meaning of life and he framed a question for the wise man he was visiting. “How can I tell when it is day? Is it when I see an animal in the distance and I can tell that it is a cow or a horse?” The wise man replied, “No!” “Is it when I see a tree and I can tell that it is an ash or an oak?” “No, not at all!” “Then I cannot guess,” said the young man, “you will have to tell me.” “It is when you look into the face of any man and know that he is your brother, and any woman and know that she is your sister. If you cannot do this, then it is still night, no matter what the clock says!”
Lord open ours eyes that we may see. And our lips that we may speak your words.
Blessing
Jesus has been with us
in this Eucharistic celebration
to bring us out of our isolation
and to open us, in respect and love,
to God and to our neighbour, that is, to all.
Like Jesus, may we become available,
particularly to the poorest among us,
and let them feel
that, with God, we too care.
May almighty God give you this openness and bless you,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let us go in peace and proclaim with our lives
the wonderful things God has done to us.
R/ Thanks be to God.