Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Today’s text

Mark 7:32-35

And they brought him [Jesus] a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they asked him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside to be by themselves, away from the crowd, put his fingers into the man's ears and touched his tongue with spittle. Then looking up to heaven he sighed; and he said to him, 'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.' And his ears were opened, and at once the impediment of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly.

Reflection

Be open. To what? To whom?

To the love that is in Jesus, to the Wonder whom he bears. Then, we will be united with inward center of his soul, through which flows the Soul of the Universe, the heart of divine creativity and joy, yes, joy.

Be open and receive from the divine source of whom your life is a physical expression. Your heart will soften, its emptiness will experience fullness and you will speak from your spiritual center, your inmost being.

Your words will truly ring with an authenticity and depth you have never known, bearing a love beyond your own.

It begins with being open. This does not come easily, and for some it never comes.

Jesus opens the man’s ears with a sigh, the sign of a great effort of soul. He seeks to pour out what is in his heart.

He surrenders to the need of the other, as he always does. He gives his heart to the deaf man, not knowing if he will hear, receive or even want what his soul hungers to give.

He sighs in vulnerability, risking rejection willing to make a fool of himself for the sake of the love within him, so willing is he to bless and give away what he has and knows.

Jesus knows utter intimacy, undivided unity with the Eternal Wonder who is love, the One from whom all creation flows, dazzling and perplexing our senses.

He truly knows the Infinite Source of all our bodies and souls need and crave. Divine hunger to give it all away stirs his soul beyond himself to reach and touch the souls of need that surround him at every hand.

He sighs and that which is in him passes to such a soul, a soul like mine and yours. He sighs, hoping our hearts might open so the total gift that is in him might fill our souls, too.

And when it does, in those graced moments of wonder, we, too, know intimate unity with the Unspeakable Love for which, for whom … even Jesus struggles for words. Sometimes only sighs say enough.

In this unity of soul with Soul, ours hearts with the boundless Heart, words of blessing and peace come to our lips without our usual stammer and struggle.

We speak, for once, the truth of the love that hungers for us, the love that can’t and won’t let go.

Pr. David L. Miller