Ephphatha!
As we learned from today’s Gospel, Ephphatha is the command Jesus utters when he touches the ears and, with his spittle, the tongue of a deaf and speech-impaired man who immediately can hear and speak intelligibly (Mk 7:31-37). It is also the name for an optional moment in the baptismal ritual for children when the priest or deacon touches the ear and mouth of the child and says: “The Lord Jesus made the deaf hear and the dumb speak. May he soon touch your ear to receive his word and your mouth to proclaim his faith, to the praise and glory of God the Father. Amen.”
The rite in use when I was ordained had this rubric:
After this, the priest takes saliva from his mouth with his thumb (the use of saliva in touching the ears and nostrils of the infant may be omitted for a reasonable cause, to safeguard cleanliness or to avoid the danger of contracting or spreading disease) and he touches the ears and nostrils of the infant.
His words were: “Ephphatha, which means ‘Be opened,’ so that you may perceive the fragrance of God’s sweetness. But you, O devil, depart, for the judgment of God has come.” The reformed rite is close to the account of Jesus’ healing of the deaf mute and omits the use of saliva, even as an option, to the relief, I am sure, of many parents.
You can find here what I made of the Gospel in a homily.
My parish bulletin had a rather comical sketch of an drawing of Jesus sticking his index fingers into the deaf-mute’s ears, one long index finger into each ear (I tried to find a similar image on the internet, but to no avail). The priest who was at my parish today talked about keeping our ears opened and listening. He advised the kids to read a little few words of the bible every evening before going to sleep, saying: “To make sure you don’t forget, here’s an easy trick: just keep your catechism folded into your pajamas!” – some of the altar boys giggled (do they even have pajamas nowadays?). He also warned us against listening for new ideas. He said that the Revelation was finished, that it ended when the last of the Apostles died, so we should not try to find new things. I refrained from whispering to my dad: “That’s wrong!”, and deferred discussion until lunch instead.
Because of Ann’s dislike of images of Jesus looking up to the sky, I was struck by the line: “he looked up to heaven, sighed deeply, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” “. Why those two movements? Could it be because he is associating the Father and the Holy Spirit to his action, so that the miracle is done by the triune God?
Today I also wondered, as I was dozing off on the train: could it be that the actions of Jesus were more elaborate than usual because he needed to communicate with the deaf-mute and reassure him before curing him? Did he, perhaps, appeal to his other senses for that? Touch (touching his ears), taste (spittle in his mouth), sight (looking up to heaven), and, why not, smell (breathing out, onto him?)…
On the train I saw a woman vigorously cleaning her ear with her finger… signs are everywhere around us!
Anyway, I’m making fun of it, but it’s a great reading.
“There are people who are intellectually, spiritually, existentially deaf, unable to hear certain notes on the human and spiritual scale.”
This is very insightful. I think we’re all deaf in this regard in one way or another.
The ephphetha is historically a pre-baptismal rite, with exorcistic features. In the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults it reclaims its place as a pre-baptismal ritual, and may be celebrated as a rite of passage at some time during the catechumenate, or in the preparation rites on Holy Saturday morning, before Baptism at the Easter Vigil. The latter setting is particularly vivid, as it is clear to everyone that those senses that are being “opened” are being prepared for the Profession of Faith that will take place at the font.
All of that pointed drama is lost alas in sweet vagueness with the ephphetha rite for infants, as some far distant future witness is evoked. And the exorcistic quality of the rite is ill timed to occur immediately after Baptism! I’ve long found the re-purposing of the ritual in the Rite of Baptism for Children — turning it into a post-baptismal ritual — to be wrongly-conceived, and would have preferred that it be dropped.
OK, Claire, so Jesus knows better than I do. Maybe it’s the goofy look on the images of His face that I find so, well, goofy.
Speaking of speaking, I just watched “A King’s Speech” on TV. Fine movie. Makes you really appreciate this miracle.
Thanks for the clarifications, Rita. I’d agree with you about the placing of the rite in the new ritual if it had retained the exorcistic character; but that’s been dropped out of the little rite.
Fr. Komonchak, thanks for that little snapshot into the pre-reformed baptismal rite. I wasn’t aware that it was done that way.
One of the things I learned during the segment of my life, not that many years ago, when my own children were in the infant/toddler stage, is that our culture has become hyper-germ-phobic, particularly when it comes to very young children – much more so than I recall during my own childhood. I am sure it’s driven by valid health concerns, but I wonder if it goes too far sometimes. Because I think that many parents would object to me touching the mouth of their child with my hands that have touched other children’s mouths (we usually baptize several infants at once), I generally omit the Ephphatha rite. (Doing it with saliva would be asking for trouble today :-)). But your post has me rethinking this.
FWIW – I noticed a few years ago that there was an increase in the number of communicants who wished to intinct the host in the cup during communion. I don’t know why that is, but I suspect that it was driven at least in part by the same sorts of health concerns – and indeed, I do wonder about the health aspects of dozens of strangers sharing the same cup. (And consider the communion ministers who need to consume the remaining precious blood at the end of the communion rite!).
I was thinking about this reading and wondering why, if Jesus’ coming fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy, why are we still suffering here? If Jesus came, why can’t we live the life Isaiah describes?
JC –
Maybe the answer is that later we will. Where in the Bible itself does it say that everything in the Bible must be read literally?
JC: maybe it’s not instantaneous, and the fulfillment of the prophecy is still work in progress.
I heard recently a wonderful comment:
We can either take the bible literally or we can take it seriously.
Amen.