Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Have you ever wondered what God’s voice sounds like? Or you may have wondered, like me, what Jesus’ voice sounded like when he spoke and sang (surely he must have sung not only as a child, but as a mature, Jewish man). Would he have been more of a tenor, baritone or bass? When he spoke, what was it like? When he groaned as in today’s gospel story, and commanded “Ephphatha!” to the deaf man, “Be opened!”, what did it sound like?
Today’s Responsorial Psalm (81) refrain calls us to listen to God’s voice, “I am the Lord, your God: hear my voice.” How do we hear God’s voice today? How do we listen for the voice of Jesus? What might be preventing us or blocking our hearing of God’s voice? Like those referred to in the psalm, do we have a “hardness of heart”? Do we prefer to walk according to our own counsel? Are pride or fear preventing us from hearing God’s voice? Are distractions keeping us from taking the time and creating the quiet to listen?
I am reminded of a song that we sometimes sing at IC, by Jesse Manibusan, “Open My Eyes.” I invite you to pray it with me:
“Open my eyes, Lord, Help me to see your face. Open my eyes, Lord, Help me to see.
Open my ears, Lord, Help me to hear your voice. Open my ears, Lord, Help me to hear.
Open my heart, Lord, Help me to love like you. Open my heart, Lord, Help me to love.
And the last shall be first,
And our eyes are opened,
And we’ll hear like never before
And we’ll speak in new ways
And we’ll see God’s face in places we’ve never known.
I live within you,
Deep in your heart, O Love,
I live within you
Rest now in me.”
May we “be opened” as the man in today’s gospel. Amen.
—Eileen Miller