Today’s readings see a deaf person recovering his sense of hearing by Jesus taking him apart and putting his finger in his ears and saying the phrase “Ephphatha!”—which means “Be opened.”  The deaf person immediately was opened in his ears but also his other senses were opened as well. As it can be ascertained later in the reading, the deaf man could now only hear but he could proclaim the Lord with forcefulness with his mouth as well.  Even though he had been deaf before, he surely was not mute. He proclaimed his healing so much; the Lord could no longer be in limited spaces but had to go out into open spaces.  The witnessing of this now cured deaf man was very effective.  In Baptism, there is a rite that I particularly like to include which is precisely called the “Ephphatha.”   This rite is often omitted for time reasons, but there is much theology included in this action.  The priest signs the child with his thumb the ears and the mouth saying, “May the Lord who made the mute speak, and the deaf hear, may in his due time also open your senses, so you may hear the Gospel with your ears, and proclaim it with your mouth.”  Such a beautiful reminder of the mission of the baptized Christians.  They are called to testify with all their senses, with all their might, the glory of the Lord to others.  These others may be like dry deserts who need streams of living water of the Gospel to burst into their lives.   These others may be those who are wanting vindication for their lives, with the message of the Gospel proclaimed they may achieve it.  These others may be people living in precarious situations such as being fatherless or being widows, who need someone to share with them the Word of the Lord.  These others maybe those who dressed in fine clothes, and have gold rings, who live in their arrogance and maybe are not aware of their need of God. There is a whole of spectrum of deaf people spiritually that need to be opened in their senses. Instead of making distinctions among the classes, let a bunch of people be opened with the Word of God. The Lord continues to open the senses of the baptized so the Gospel can be proclaimed.  Let us not be deaf to the word of God, but like this deaf person be healed of our spiritual deafness (if any), and then with all our senses testify to the Lord to others. As baptized, our senses have been opened for the mission of evangelization, let us go out to heal the spiritual deafness of the world so it may be open to salvation through the Word of God.  Let us more proclaim this Word, so that we can make other people strong in the faith, and we too may receive a divine recompense in the end.