Domenico Maggiotto (1713-1794), “Christ Healing a Deaf and Mute Man”

The crowds bring a deaf and mute man to Jesus for healing. They ask Jesus to “lay his hand” on the disabled man. Instead, the Lord takes the man away from the crowds, breaths on him, sticks his finger in his ear, puts saliva on his tongue, and speaks: “Ephphatha! Be opened!” Jesus transmits His healing grace to the disabled man through a combination of words and actions.

The sacraments of the Catholic Church work in the same way. Jesus instituted the sacraments to extend His healing words and actions throughout history. The Catechism explains that “Jesus’ words and actions during His hidden life and public ministry… announced and prepared what he was going to give the Church… The mysteries of Christ’s life are the foundations of what he would henceforth dispense in the sacraments… Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify. They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptises, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies… The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments… are necessary for salvation.”

The Church draws on Jesus’ healing of the deaf and mute man in the Sacrament of Baptism. After the Sacrament of Baptism has been administered, there are four ‘explanatory rites’. These rites highlight different effects of Baptism. The first explanatory rite is the anointing with Chrism, reflecting the fact that sanctifying grace bestows a new identity upon the baptised person. The second explanatory rite is the  clothing with the white garment or stole, reflecting the fact that sanctifying grace regenerates our souls, cleansing them from Original and personal sin. The third explanatory rite is the reception of a lighted candle, reflecting the gift of faith that is received with sanctifying grace. The fourth explanatory rite is the Ephphatha. Here, the priest makes the sign of the Cross over the ears and lips of the baptised person whilst saying: “The Lord Jesus made the deaf hear and the dumb speak. May he soon touch your ears to receive His Word, and your mouth to profess faith, to the praise and glory of God the Father.” Just as Jesus opened the ears and mouth of the disabled man, so, through Baptism, He opens our ears to hear Him and our mouths to speak of Him.

It is interesting to note that the way Jesus healed the disabled man was not the way the crowds wanted or expected. Yet they are left with “unbounded admiration” at Jesus. There is a lesson for us here. Sometimes the crowds of today can view the sacraments as strange and unnecessary. By referring to the way Jesus healed the deaf and mute man, we can help these people to discover that it is precisely through the sacraments that God continues to work today.