FRIDAY, THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
1 Kgs 11:29-32; 12:19 Ps 81:10-15 Mk 7:31-37
HEARING GOD AMID DIVISIONS ORDINARY
The readings today invite us to reflect on two movements of the human heart: division and opening. In the first, we encounter a painful moment. God allows a rupture because hearts have drifted, because Solomon’s fidelity had weakened. Division is never only political; it begins in the quiet places of the heart, where prayer has been neglected, where self-reliance replaces trust in Him. Many of us know this experience in small, real ways. A family misunderstanding stretches into months of silence. A co-worker’s comment lodges in our hearts and becomes resentment. Even our spiritual lives can feel divided: part of our heart wants to pray, while another part is distracted or lukewarm. Carmelite spirituality teaches us to return again and again to the inner cell, to the still space where God waits. When we neglect that silence, we slowly become like a kingdom ready to split; fragile, restless, unsettled.
Against this backdrop, the Gospel brings astonishing tenderness. Jesus takes a deaf and mute man aside ‘away from the noise, away from the crowd’. He touches his ears and tongue. He looks up to heaven. Then he speaks a single powerful word: “Ephpheta”—Be opened. This is the path of our calling: To allow Jesus to draw us aside into solitude so that he may touch what is closed within us. Perhaps it is an old wound we do not want to feel. Maybe it is a habit we are ashamed of. Maybe it is the simple exhaustion of daily responsibilities. In our small everyday moments of washing dishes, driving to work, helping a child with homework, Jesus whispers “Be opened.” He invites us to hear His voice beneath the surface of ordinary life. A listening heart hears not with perfect stillness, but with willingness. We open the door even a little, and Christ fills the room with peace. And when He heals us, people notice, not because we speak louder, but because we speak with love. Like the crowd in the Gospel, others see the change and say, “He has done all things well.”
Response: I am the Lord your God: listen to my voice.
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