Friends are those people we confide on. These are special people we trust with our deepest and darkest secrets and even with our very own lives. It's nice to have friends.
What friends do with each other is share things about oneself to the other and allow the other to be interactive about it. When we have problems, we seek for advice from a friend. When we had a moment with our crush, we can't wait to tell a friend about it. A lot of things we share with a friend and these things mean a lot to each one of us.
In the Gospel, the Lord tells the deaf man: "Ephphatha!" which means "Be opened!". And immediately, the man's ears opened and his speech impediment was gone. One of the many miracles of healing that our Lord has done through out His walk on earth.
Jesus tells the man to be opened. It is the same as Jesus telling us to open ourselves to Him. Every one of us has his/her own deafness. Somehow, a part of us is hearing only our own voice which is telling us what we want and the voice that is not from God which is telling us to do wrong. Human as we are, we get confused. I mean, how can we even determine which is which? And who does even know what the voice of God sounds like? It's difficult to figure these things out.
Better yet, we must allow ourselves to be willing to accept the Lord in our lives because it is only through our total acceptance that He is our saviour that He may be able to draw closer to us. We must then be able to hear His word, and not just merely hearing it through our ears but also allow the thoughts to drown in the depth of our hearts.
Everyday the Lord tries to extend His hands to us. At times, we even try to reach Him too but there are many distractions around us. We have many things to do and we stick to the goal of fulfilling each task we have. And so the distance increases.
Jesus invites us to be His friend. He wants us to share to Him our birthday celebrations, our wishes and dreams, our frustrating Math problems, our heart breaking stories, our depressing grades, our happy kilig moments, our fun family day, and every thing else. He's like our personal-never-running-out-of-pages diary. Reaching Him does not even require you to get a piece of paper and pen, have a land line or a cell phone (wala pang load minsan). All He asks of us is to be in a quiet place and talk to Him in prayer. No expenses, no effort. You can even lie down while giving Him an update about your life. Although we all know that even if we do not tell Him about it, He already knows. It's amazing how He does it. Still amazes me how. Amazes me how great our God is. Amen?
In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah tells us to be strong and fear not. Easy to say and read, actually hard to apply. We all have our own set of fears. According to researchers, there is an infinite list of phobias. One can discover a fear of something now and can eventually develop a name and tada! It's on the long list already. Who knows? Maybe even the prophet Isaiah has his own fears.
Still, with all the fear we have within us, the Lord tells us that "Hey, why are you scared? I'm here." Our Lord is more than any other superheroes. Therefore, He can and will save us from our fears no matter what happens. He never forsakes us (Deut 31:6). This is the reason why Isaiah is telling us not to fear. The world may come against us, which is expected if we continue to follow Jesus. But the Lord will be our shield, our fortress. With Him, we are safe. Cradled in sleep and carried in walk.
In the second reading, James teaches us to set aside our impartiality. Our God made each one of us from His own image and likeness. He did not choose one over the other. We are all fair in the eyes of God. More so, it is also the same way that the Lord wants us to do -- that we look at every one else around us without any form of bias.
Jesus sends us different kind of messages every single day. Today, I got this message:
"Dearest one, be not afraid to open yourself to me because no matter what is within you, no matter how much you have sinned, my love for you remains the same. My everlasting and unfailing love stays with you. Always and forever, Jesus"
You see, the Lord makes a way. But to make a relationship work, the effort must go both ways. The Lord tries to reach out and so now, it's time for us to do our part.
Remember: What is hearing when we don't hear God's word? What is seeing when we don't see what is good? What is feeling when we don't feel God's love? Mostly, what more is there for us to have when we don't have God? He is worthy to be our everything.
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