If you don't hear the Word (Bishop Robert Barron)

  When Jesus healed a deaf man with a speech impediment,… he put his finger in the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue.  Jesus establishes, as it were, an electrical current, running from God the Father, through him, to this man.  He, almost literally, plugs him into the divine current, compelling him to hear the Word.  He says, Ephphatha, be opened.  When he does, his speech impediment is immediately overcome.  Now he is able to speak the Word of God clearly.

  This deaf man stands for all of us who do not hear the Word of God, who have grown oblivious to it.  And what is the result of this deafness?  A speech impediment.  At the spiritual level, if you don’t hear the Word of God clearly, then your capacity to speak it is also severely compromised.

--Bishop Robert Barron,

Gospel Reflection,

February 10, 2017

Image source: Philippe de Champaigne, Christ Healing the Deaf-Mute (1645/1665), 
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Philippe_de_Champaigne_-_Christ_Healing_the_Deaf-Mute_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg