23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

1st Reading: Is 35:4–7a
Say to those who are afraid:
“Have courage, do not fear.
See, your God comes, demanding justice.
He is the God who rewards,
the God who comes to save you.”
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unsealed.
Then will the lame leap as a hart
and the tongue of the dumb sing and shout.
For water will break out in the wilderness
and streams gush forth from the desert.
The thirsty ground will become a pool,
the arid land springs of water.
In the haunts where once reptiles lay,
grass will grow with reeds and rushes.

2nd Reading: Jas 2:1–5
My brothers and sisters, if you truly believe in our glorified Lord, Jesus Christ, you will not discriminate between persons. Suppose a person enters the synagogue where you are assembled, dressed magnificently and wearing a gold ring; at the same time, a poor person enters dressed in rags. If you focus your attention on the well-dressed and say, “Come and sit in the best seat,” while to the poor one you say, “Stay standing or else sit down at my feet,” have you not, in fact, made a distinction between the two? Have you not judged, using a double standard?
Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters, did God not choose the poor of this world to receive the riches of faith and to inherit the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?

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 groaned and said to him, “Ephphetha,” that is, “Be opened.”
And his ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak clearly. Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone, but the more he insisted on this, 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.”

Commentary
During the Rite of Baptism the priest or dea­con may whisper into the ear of the newly baptized the word “Ephphetha.” This ri­tual element holds a prayer that the one who has been baptized will always be open to the life-giving Word of God, the Word that offers direction, meaning and purpose for those who listen to it and put it into practice.
The prayer that Jesus uttered over the deaf man in the Gospel is His ardent desire for all of us: that by being open to His Word we might be liberated from our sins and walk in the freedom of the sons and daughters of God. We echo this prayer when we make the sign of the cross over our forehead, lips and heart as the Gospel is proclaimed, praying that God’s powerful Word might always be in our minds and on our lips and in our hearts. Please God, may it be so!

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