By Reagan Franklin

 

 

“Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” —
And immediately the man’s ears were opened.  ~ Mark 7:31-37

 

A friend was discussing Catholic meditation one day; I hadn’t heard of this before. One afternoon, at the beach, I decided to give it a go, found something on YouTube that was Catholic-based, popped in my AirPods, and settled in for some reflection and relaxation. 

It was a beautiful experience. The voice was soothing. The message was spiritual, the warmth of the day sedating, and at the end, the voice in my ears told me that when I opened my eyes, I would see God’s creation. I didn’t wait for anything else—I just opened my eyes! And what a sight I beheld! 

The glistening blue water gently lapped the white sand, the sun rays glowing in the sky, birds flying and chirping. Wow – God’s creation. As I sat in glory-filled awe, a peculiar-looking man walked into my line of sight. I wish, my friends, I could tell you that I “got it,” but my thought was, “ooh, get out of my beautiful view of God’s creation.” At that moment, the voice in my ear gave its final instruction: “Open your eyes.” 

And it was as if my eyes opened for the first time. It wasn’t the beautiful ocean scene I was supposed to behold in front of me, but the peculiar-looking man. He was God’s creation, put in that place at that moment for me to see. 

As I was already in a state of deep meditation, this led to further reflection. Why were my eyes “closed,” and for how long have they been that way? And is it really my eyes, or something much deeper? My eyes followed the path of the man while my head was spinning. What was the Lord trying to tell me? What was the Lord asking of me? What was I supposed to do with this revelation? And then the whisper of Jesus pierced my heart with his healing words, “Ephphatha… be opened!” 

The Lord offered me this moment to look deep within. It was like the tongues of fire fell upon me, filling me. The lyrics of a song danced in my head, “take the blindness from my eyes, take the deafness from my ears, take the darkness from my mind, take the hardness from my heart….” It was like an out-of-body experience until I realized the song was actually playing through my AirPods. It was the next video on YouTube after the mediation. I laughed in delight as the Lord showed off His sense of humor! 

In Mark’s gospel, the Lord heals the deaf man with a look to heaven and heavy groan and the powerful words, “Ephphatha! Be Opened!” Sometimes I wonder if Jesus groaned because he knew that thousands of years later, there’d be a woman on a beach—who still needed to “get it.”


Prayer

Lord, let me be opened to see with Your eyes, hear with Your ears and speak with Your words. And give me the grace and strength to serve with a heart like yours.

Call to Action

I encourage you to discover new ways to immerse yourself in the Word of God. Listen to how He is whispering the healing words, “Be opened” to you. Is it a physical healing, such as with the man in the Gospel? Is it a spiritual healing, one bringing you to deeper faith? Or, an emotional healing, one of forgiveness perhaps? Ephphatha!

 

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