All Souls Saturday; Our Venerable Father Benedict of Nursia.
Day 27 of the Great Fast.
Hebrews 6:9-12; 1 Corinthians 15:47-57; Mark 7:31-37; John 5:24-30.
Read Mark 7:31-37
The healing of the man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech shows us that Christ has come to restore our human faculties that have become closed. The Lord leads the man away from the crowd, emphasizing that divine healing is not a spectacle, but comes forth when we encounter Him. The gestures, touching ears and tongue, signify that salvation restores the capacity both to receive the word of God and to proclaim it rightly. Our human brokenness is not only physical, but also spiritual: ears fail to hear truth and tongues fail to confess it.
The Fathers read these actions symbolically. Venerable Bede comments: “The Lord touched his ears that they might be opened to hear the divine commandments, and his tongue that it might proclaim the praises of God.” (Bede, Homilies on the Gospels, I.23). The miracle represents the transformation of a person who moves from silence and isolation into communion through hearing and confession.
St. Benedict of Nursia emphasizes the spiritual meaning of attentive hearing: “Let us open our ears to the deifying light and hear with attentive ears what the divine voice cries out daily.” (Benedict, Rule, Prologue 9). The command “Be opened” is a call directed to every disciple: openness to the divine word is the beginning of conversion.
Christ’s sigh toward heaven reveals the seriousness of humanity’s condition. Full human restoration comes not merely through a command, but through the shed blood and broken body of the Incarnate Word of God. Our salvation and restoration have a heavy price. The opened ears signify obedience, while the loosened tongue signifies right confession. In this way, the healed man becomes an icon of the Church: a community that hears the word of God and proclaims it without impediment to all.