Twenty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 10, 2006


What do you do when the lines of communication are blocked?

I remember it well – I was a sophomore in college. I had a list of people to visit doing my ‘hospital chaplaincy’ field education. I entered the room, strolled over to the patient in the bed. I walk over, confident, though a little nervous. I know how to do this, I've done it two weeks now. You say hello, find out who they are, how they are, chat a while, pray with them, and off you go to your next round.

Or so I thought. She was facing the window. I came around that side of the bed: “ Hello, I'm Bill Kempf, I'm a seminarian, blah blah blah. How are you today? NO RESPONSE. I looked - her eyes were wide open, the pupils reactive - she was awake and aware. AND SHE COULDN"T SPEAK! I did not know what to do. This hadn't been covered in the two weeks of hopital visits/formation. I left the room. I was prepared for many things - but not for someone who was unable to speak to me - She was mute - and I was uncomfortable. I gathered my courage in the hallway, and I prayed. I don’t know how to get past this blockage… And, I couldn't do this alone. "YOU DON'T!" came the voice in my head. I went back in... and worked at trying to get past the hindrances and the blockage… When I was done, I prayed, and left.

I'll always remember that encounter. It is easier to deal with the blind and the lame than the mute. There is an awkwardness there. The normal channels are blocked, and you have to find all new ways to reach them, to let them hear, be in contact.

Ephphatha - be opened. What I wouldn't have given for the power to do that -as Jesus did - to utter a word and have the channels opened. To be able to connect in ways that make a difference.

I am not the first or only one to feel that way. I worked at high school for four years. I listened to many stories from both students and parents - of the word EPHPHATHA needing to be spoken. The lines are blocked, - neither side can 'hear' the other - so much have the little disagreements become blockages. Or perhaps you know it in a relationship that has met some rocky times. You want the other to understand or you want to understand them – but it’s not working. The communication that might ‘save’ the relationship can’t get past the hurt or anger that caused the rift. Neither can hear or speak the truth that would set the other free.

Sometimes it's the process - where the communication takes place. Jesus takes the mute aside, away from the curious onlookers, the impartial spectators. It is hard enough on the deaf mute - things have to be repeated, - the embarrassment is great. Jesus, is aware, and in his messianic compassion takes him aside - so the two of them can speak - away from the jeers and the crowd and all the things that block the channels of communication. Perhaps that is what needs to happen for you. Go to a neutral territory - a place away from brother or sister, friends or people who will keep the communication blocked, and there, do the work it takes.

Perhaps it needs simply the desire to enter the dialogue with compassion instead of judgement. Perhaps it is to let go of the blockage that hears only the words or the bottom line (like curfew, or "I hate you') and hear the person beneath - the worries the concerns, the desire to protect oneself when to be in relationship seems so vulnerable… Whatever it is – where ever it is - between parent-child, spouse-spouse, brother-sister, boyfriend-girlfriend, Jesus stands before you and says: Be OPENED.

“Ephphatha”. Blessedly, it is not just the command of Jesus to a man 2,000 years ago - it is to you and I today. Ephphatha.
I'll never forget the hospital room, and the hallway where I had to make the decision to enter the room again. I knew the power of Jesus as I went back into the room of blockage. May you know it as you enter into that relationship that needs to be set free....