The Lord touches the ears and tongue of this man who was found to be death and dumb. The ears represent our ability to hear while the tongue represents our ability to speak. From a position of faith it is important that we do both of these elements. Therefore, during a baptism in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite the priest touches the ears and lips of the child who is to be baptized. Through baptism the child enters into the life of the church and through these life giving waters they are sent forth to hear and speak the words of truth which come from our Lord Jesus Christ.
If we cannot hear we will not be able to speak the truths which are contained within the faith. We live in the midst of a culture of noise which is constantly bombarding each of us. We pride ourself on how busy that we are in our daily life. More important then all of this is prayer. Through prayer we enter into relationship with God and begin to hear His voice be made manifest in our daily life. When we enter into sin we push Christ off to the side and through these actions the voice begins to become muffled; maybe even to the point where it is completely blotted out.
Hopefully what we hear is something which is intergraded into who we are as a human person. The words which we speak with our lips should line up accordingly to what we hear and ponder in our heart. Sadly, there are those who live out their faith as if what happens inside of the Church on Sunday is independent of what is encountered in the rest of our daily life. If we are people of faith this cannot be the case. Rather we should fill our mind and heart with things of faith. We should pray especially the rosary, we should do spiritual reading, we should assist at the Holy Mass, and participate in the sacraments in a state of grace. To do such acts would open our our ears to not only hear the Word of God, but to speak the Word of God with our lips.
We cannot allow ourself to become so hardened of heart that we fail to ponder these things of faith. Some therefore fill there life with the noise of immorality in what is viewed on television, on the internet, or in the music that one listens too. If our ears become so attuned to such voices they in return will tune out that which important, God. Likewise with our ears closed off to these truths, our voices become objects which do not give glory to God, but instead detract from Him. As people of faith we cannot allow this to be so concerning us.
Therefore as we head into the world following this Mass let us find ways to give proper glory and praise to God. The more the we align our life to His Divine will the more our ears will come to hear His voice and our lips will come to give glory to His Most Holy Name. In our Gospel Christ brought healing to this man restoring his ears and mouth to it’s original purpose. Likewise, the Lord desires to do the same for each of us. Let us not impede His mercy and forgiveness in this life, but always remain open to His healing rays of mercy and forgiveness.
