Fourth Saturday of the Great Fast: All Souls Saturday. Synaxis of the Holy Archangel Gabriel
Hebrews 6:9-12; 1 Corinthians 15:47-57; Mark 7:31-37; John 5:24-30
Great Fast Day 27
Read Mark 7:31-37
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
Imagine what it would have been like to witness this miracle personally. One moment a man who could not hear or barely speak is brought before Christ and the next he is healed and whole. An incredible event indeed… but what’s with all the secrecy? If Jesus can do these things, why didn’t He just continue until the entire world was healed and whole? Ultimately, it’s because He did not come simply to heal our bodies and minds but to free us from slavery to sin and death. Jesus is on an undercover mission, and He must complete it for the life of the world. On this side of the Resurrection, we have received an even more amazing healing than the man in our reading.
St. Ambrose comments: “So open your ears and enjoy the good odour of eternal life which has been breathed upon you by the grace of the sacraments. This we pointed out to you as we celebrated the mystery of the opening and said: ‘Ephphatha,’ that is, ‘Be opened,’ so that everyone about to come to the table of grace might know what he was asked and remember the way he once responded. Christ celebrated this mystery in the Gospel, as we read, when he healed the one who was deaf and dumb.”- On the Mysteries 1.3-4