Commentary on the Gospel by Fr Luigi Maria Epicoco: Mk 7, 31-37

They brought a deaf-mute to him, begging him to lay his hand on him ”. The deaf and dumb to whom the Gospel refers have nothing to do with the brothers and sisters who live this type of physical condition, indeed from personal experience I have come across real figures of holiness precisely among those who spend their lives wearing this kind of physical diversity. This does not take away from the fact that Jesus also has the power to free us from this type of physical illness, but what the Gospel wants to highlight has to do with an inner state of impossibility to speak and listen. Many people I meet in life are affected by this kind of inner silence and deafness. You can spend hours discussing it. You can explain in detail every single piece of their experience. You can beg them to find the courage to speak out without feeling judged but most of the time they prefer to preserve their inner closed condition. Jesus does something that is highly indicative:

“Taking him aside away from the crowd, she put her fingers in his ears and touched his tongue with the saliva; then looking towards the sky, he let out a sigh and said: "Effatà" that is: "Open up!". And immediately his ears were opened, the knot of his tongue was untied and he spoke correctly ”. Only starting from a true intimacy with Jesus is it possible to pass from a hermetic condition of closure to a condition of openness. Only Jesus can help us to open up. And we must not neglect that those fingers, that saliva, those words we continue to always have with us through the sacraments. They are a concrete event that makes possible the same experience recounted in today's Gospel. That is why an intense, true, and genuine sacramental life can help more than many talks and many attempts. But we need a fundamental ingredient: wanting it. In fact, the thing that escapes us is that this deaf-mute is brought to Jesus, but then it is he who decides to let himself be led by Jesus away from the crowd. AUTHOR: Don Luigi Maria Epicoco