“Be opened” is Jesus’ healing message for the deaf man with the speech impediment in our gospel lesson. It is his message for us today: be open to what God has prepared for us in the here and now. As we open our hearts and minds to accept what is, the Holy One uses it to our benefit and to the benefit of the whole world, the entire cosmos, as unlikely as that may seem. We are, each and all, bearers of healing and redemption for all creation when we take on the yoke of Love, when we surrender ourselves to being channels and instruments of the Divine.

So long as we ignore, avoid, hide from, deny, the call to: Ephphatha,” we can be unaware of the Reality before us. A closed mind, a hardened heart is a barrier to God’s amazing grace. Once our eyes are opened to perceive the Beloved at work in the world around us however, we are filled with awe. We come to trust the power of God’s steadfast love.

Also in our gospel, we see Jesus’ heart and mind being opened and expanded by the words of the Syrophoenician woman. May we be as open to recognize the surprising messengers God sends our way to get our attention, to shake us out of our torpor, to turn us back into the way of self-giving Love. It is so easy for us, in our complacency, to assume and rationalize that we are on the right track in our journey home to the Beloved. That is just when we need to hear and respond to the call: “Ephphatha!”