7 April 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”” Mark 7:37
Paul's letter to the Galatians is the most passionate thing he ever wrote, and today's reading opens with its battle-cry: “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” The Galatians were Gentiles who had come to faith in the Risen Christ through Paul's preaching. Then teachers arrived who told them that faith and Baptism were not enough: to belong fully to God's people, the men must also be circumcised and the whole Law of Moses taken up. Paul's answer is fierce because so much is at stake. If a Gentile must first become a Jew in order to be saved by Christ, then Christ's death and Resurrection are not enough, and grace has become a reward to be earned. “You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” Paul is not attacking the Jewish people or their faithful observance of the covenant God gave them; he himself was a Jew who loved the Law. He is defending the truth that the Gentiles are welcomed into the family of Abraham by grace, through faith in the Risen Lord. Easter is liberation: the Lord who broke the chains of death does not hand us a new set of chains.
But freedom in Christ is not freedom to do as we please. Paul ends with a sentence that holds together what Christians have too often pulled apart: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.” Faith is not a private opinion that leaves life unchanged; it works, and the work it does is love. The Catholic faith has always insisted on both halves: we are saved by grace through faith, not by our own merits; and the faith that saves is living faith, which shows itself in love. As Saint James says, “faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (James 2:17). A few verses later in Galatians Paul will say that the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Christian freedom is the freedom of a son or daughter in the Father's house, no longer working for wages but serving out of love.
The Gospel takes Jesus into the Decapolis, the ten Greek-speaking cities on the far side of the Sea of Galilee, a largely Gentile region. There “they brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech.” Mark describes every gesture with care. Jesus “took him aside in private, away from the crowd,” as if to spare him embarrassment; he puts his fingers into his ears, spits and touches his tongue; then, “looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is, ‘Be opened.’” The Lord who could heal with a word chooses to heal with touch, with his own body. These are already sacramental signs: God's grace comes to us through what can be seen and touched. “And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.” In the ancient Church this Gospel was acted out at Baptism: the bishop touched the ears and mouth of the one to be baptised and said, Ephphatha, so that the newly baptised might hear the word of God and speak his praise. The Latin rite of Baptism still keeps it. The crowd's cry, “He has done everything well,” echoes the first page of the Bible, where God saw everything he had made and it was very good. In the Risen Christ creation is being made new. In the Syro-Malabar Holy Qurbana, before the Gospel is proclaimed, the people sing Halleluia: ears opened to hear the Gospel, tongues loosed to praise.
Theme: “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
The freedom Christ has won, faith working through love, the Lord who heals with touch and word, and creation made new.
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;” Exodus 20:2
“For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1
Apply: Bring one enslaving habit to confession this Easter season.
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.” Galatians 5:6
Apply: Do one act of love this week for someone who cannot repay you.
“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.” Isaiah 35:5–6
“Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”” Mark 7:34
Apply: Before the Gospel at Holy Qurbana, ask the Lord to open your ears.
“O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.” Psalm 51:15
“They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”” Mark 7:37
Apply: Use your tongue today only for praise and for kind words.
The Risen Christ frees us from every yoke and opens our ears and lips.
Faith that loves is the only faith that counts.
Take-home resolution: This week, bring one enslaving habit to confession, do one hidden act of love, and pray Ephphatha before the Gospel.
Dear friends, Paul writes to the Galatians with a battle-cry: For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Some teachers had told these Gentile Christians that faith in Christ was not enough. Paul says: if you try to earn salvation, you cut yourselves off from grace. The Risen Lord who broke the chains of death does not give us new chains.
But Christian freedom is not doing whatever we like. Paul says: the only thing that counts is faith working through love. Faith that does not love is dead. Faith that loves lives in true freedom.
In the Gospel people bring a deaf man to Jesus. Jesus takes him aside, touches his ears and tongue, looks up to heaven, sighs and says: Ephphatha, Be opened. At once he hears and speaks.
The Lord still heals us through signs he can touch us with: water, oil, bread and wine. In every sacrament he says over us, Ephphatha. And the people cry: He has done everything well.
Today, let us ask him to open our ears to his word and our lips to praise him and to speak kindly. And let our faith work through love. Alleluia! Amen.
Children, Jesus met a man who could not hear. Jesus touched his ears and said, ‘Ephphatha!’ which means ‘Be opened!’ And the man could hear!
Let us ask Jesus to open our ears to listen to God and to our parents, and our mouths to say kind words.
Lord Jesus Christ, risen Saviour, you won our freedom, and you opened the ears of the deaf and loosed the tongue of the mute. Say over us your word, Ephphatha: open our ears to hear your Gospel and our lips to proclaim your praise. Keep us from every yoke of slavery, and let our faith be faith working through love, so that all may say of your work in us, He has done everything well. Glory to you, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever. Amen. Alleluia!