Effetá, open up.: Commentary by Fr. Jorge Miró

Fr. Jorge Miró shares with the readers of Exaudi his commentary on the Gospel of this Sunday, September 8, 2024, entitled “Effetá, open up.”

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The Word of God that we proclaim today presents to us the situation in which man finds himself after original sin: he has become deaf and mute inside.

He easily lives in distrust, leading him to doubt God’s love and look at Him as a rival. And this distrust can end up closing his ear to hear the Word; closing his eyes to see God’s love and action in the midst of his life; closing his lips to proclaim the wonders of God. And along that path, he ends up living in profound solitude.

For this reason, the Church invites us every day to begin the Liturgy of the Hours with a call to conversion: may you hear the voice of the Lord today, do not harden your hearts.

For this reason, today the Word announces good news to you: Be strong, do not be afraid. Behold, your God! Retribution is coming, God’s retribution. He comes in person and will save you. A Word that invites us to flee from the catastrophic pessimism that false prophets announce to us, and calls us to live in trust in the faithfulness of God who never stops loving us.

Isaiah announces that God loves us so much that he cannot remain impassive before this situation of man, and will intervene personally to save us. In the desert, a sign of death, abundant water springs forth, life emerges. This marvelous salvation is made present in an absolute and definitive way in Jesus Christ, the Savior, the Lord.

You do not give life to yourself. You need Jesus Christ, the Savior. And, as we said last Sunday, God creates through the Word and will heal your deafness and your muteness to the extent that you listen to and accept his Word: One Word from you will be enough to heal me.

At your baptism the priest, touching your mouth and your ears, said: Effetá, open up. And he prayed for you so that you would soon be able to hear the Word of God and your tongue would be loosened to confess the faith and praise the Lord.

Through Baptism, we begin to breathe the Holy Spirit, the one that Jesus had invoked from the Father with a deep sigh, to heal the deaf-mute.

And so, the whole Christian life is nothing more than letting the Holy Spirit make the seed received in Baptism grow and mature in you.

But the sacrament of baptism is not magic. Baptism opens a path that must be followed, it begins a new life that must be lived. And you already know what the goal is: heaven, eternal life.

It introduces us into the community of those who are able to listen and speak; it introduces us into communion with Jesus himself; it gives us the Holy Spirit.

The Word also shows us two clear signs of having an open ear and listening to the Lord: brotherly love: do not mix faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality; and living in blessing, in praise, giving thanks to God, because he has done everything well.

One enters heaven by singing the Magnificat, your Magnificat: proclaiming that God has looked upon your smallness and has done great works in you.

This is how Mary lived, whose Nativity we celebrate today: open to the Spirit, listening, trusting, obeying.

Come, Holy Spirit!