In the Rite of Baptism we find the Ephpheta which is taken from this Gospel passage. At this moment the priest touches the ears and lips of the child stating, “May the Lord Jesus, who made the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak, grant that you may soon be able to receive His word and profess the faith to the praise and glory of God the Father.”
Through baptism this is what has taken place within us. Through these life giving waters all sin was washed away including original sin and we rose forth from those life giving waters whiter then snow. Through baptism we were sent forth to hear the word of God and to speak the word of God. It was sin that kept us from such a reality, but through our encounter with Christ we came to be healed.
Our Epistle presents us with Saint Paul who confesses, “For I am the least of the Apostles, who am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am and His grace in me has not been void.”
What we should know pertaining to the past of Saint Paul was that he was once known as Saul. He persecuted Christians and had them put to death. Nevertheless, on the Road to Emmaus he encountered the Lord who called him to surrender his life to Him. In return Saul was baptized and left the waters of baptism as Paul. He rose from those waters able to hear and speak.
From Romans we are told by Saint Paul concerning the importance of baptism, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
Through this gift of baptism we must “walk in newness of life.” Despite his sinful past Paul came to live for the Lord. Despite the psychical ailments of the man in our Gospel he came to be healed through Christ. So too when it pertains to each of us. We have been healed by Christ through baptism and therefore must walk each day to live for His greater glory.
Temptation and sin will continue to creep into our life, but we cannot allow ourself to lose faith for God pours forth the gift of grace upon us. Through this gift we come to be strengthened to live for the Lord and to die to self. We open wide our heart to be found receptive of such a gift especially when we return to the sacrament of confession to be touched by the power of God’s mercy. It is this mercy which opens our ears to hear and our lips to speak.
Therefore, let us be sent forth from here like this man in our Gospel. May our lips come to proclaim the Gospel and may we come to hear all that the Lord asks of us and like Saint Paul may we be found willing to respond to Him by our life.
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