February 14, 2025 // Memorial of Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop

Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Mark 7:31-37

Reflect on the Word //

Entering the solitude of the confessional, the noise of the outside world disappeared. While I knew the priest was waiting for me, it was not his presence that I sensed; it was Someone else’s. As I knelt down, and before I could even utter the words, “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned,” tears began to flow.

Not again. I couldn’t remember the last time I didn’t cry, even sob, during the Sacrament of Confession. It was a difficult season. One in which I was trying hard to hold it all together for everyone else. Month after month, it was only in the safety of the confessional that I could be honest about my struggle.

As I bared my soul and confessed my sins, Jesus opened all those places in my heart that were closed off to the hope of being healed.

He opened my lack of faith.

He opened the places filled with worry and anxiety.

He opened my resistance to love.

With each admission, it was as if Jesus was whispering in my ear, “‘Ephphatha!’ (that is, ‘Be opened!’)” (Mark 7:34). And immediately, all those places in my heart, where I was holding everything in, where I was closed off to love, were finally open enough for Him to enter, touch the pain, and heal my wounds.

Sister, Jesus longs to open the locked up parts of your heart too. Like He did in the Gospel for the man, He wants to take you “off by [yourself]” (Mark 7:33) in order to personally commune with you and heal you with His embrace. If you close your eyes, can you imagine His tender gaze toward you? With an outstretched arm drawing you in, can you hear Him whisper, “Ephphatha”?

Jesus especially longs to meet you in the Sacraments, where we encounter Him in the most intimate way possible. There, He will touch each closed-off part of your heart and open it to a fresh outpouring of His love and grace. All He asks is that you are open to His desire to meet you in your need and heal you according to His will.

Relate to the Lord // Imagine His tender gaze toward you. What does He look like? How does it feel?