Quiet down.
From today’s Scripture: “He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, ’Ephphtha, that is (Be opened).’”—Mk 7:33-34
As I sit reflecting on this passage, I am distracted by cars driving by with music blaring, sirens, voices from the radio in the other room, the dings of messages on the cell phone, the phone ringing, the tapping of keyboard keys from the offices around me, dogs barking…I can go on. The distractions are many and I am struggling to keep my focus on Jesus and what he is trying to say to me.
When this man was presented to Jesus for healing, Jesus did not heal him within the crowd. He took him away from the noise and distractions so they could be by themselves. Was this to keep him from being overwhelmed by noise and chaos of the crowd? Or, did Jesus want the first sound this man heard to be his voice so he would always recognize it and listen for it in times of struggle?
We live in a very loud and chaotic world. It is so easy to become so absorbed into the loud that we fail to hear the voice of the Lord. Soon we will even fail to recognize his voice. Jesus invites us to go with him into the quiet. He wants us to spend time alone with him. He wants to heal our deafness so we can again hear his voice and recognize it within the noise of the world.
Let us pray: Help me, Lord, to make the time to meet you alone in the quiet. Heal my deafness so that I can hear and recognize your voice. Today, it is your voice I want to run to in the chaos. It is your words I want to cling to.
Today’s author is Sister Darlene Presley, Mother Superior of the Glenmary Sisters.
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