In this section you can find a daily commentary on the Gospel of the Day.

Friday 10 February 2023

Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Word for today
The Gospel of Mark 7:31-37

Effathà

"Ephphathà" is a verb translated from the aramaic ‘ippetàch, “be opened.”  It comes from the verb patàch, “to open, to loose, to set free,” from which the noun petàch, “door, entry, gate, opening,” is derived.
Jesus says: "Ephphathà!" (that is, "Be opened!"). But why be opened?
Because the opposite of opening is not closing but holding. One never closes for the sake of closing but one closes to hold. Jesus invites the people not to hold because holding is an effort against life, against evolution. Holding is forcing, it is is tying and getting tied, it is chaining and getting chained, it is blocking and becoming blocked. Blocking is stopping, and stopping is dying. If you hold on to a grudge, it will continue to thrash about within you, but you will get stuck in your heart and in your soul. If you hold on to a humiliation, it will thrash about within you until it takes away your wishes and your dreams. If you hold on to someone who has already gone, you will get drunk with vengeance and sick with pain for the rest of your life. If you hold on to something that has already been taken away from you, you will ask your mind to build an unreal and imaginary world that will disconnect you from the present and from reality keeping you stuck in insanity. Ephphathà is the  word for healing, it sets the heart free from every attachment, even the most holy and untouchable. Opening is setting free, letting go, letting flow. Opening does not mean saying:  I am not interested or I don't care,  which is the most disguised and dangerous way of holding. Be opened means not retaining  memories, wounds, provocations, failures, traumas within you. Be opened means letting go and living the present moment as best you can. Holding is the most dangerous mental process and spiritual behaviour that exists because it is the daily way to put ourselves in God's place and to kill life, every life. Holding means possessing and accusing God of not loving us. It is like spitting in his face with rage and pride because it is His inefficiency, His not being able to intervene in our lives in a positive way,  His disinterest in our lives that lead us to have to solve our problems through the very strategy of holding and possessing.