Opening the Word is a series of prompts from The Emmaus Institute for Biblical Studies to help focus our minds and hearts on the Sunday Mass Readings. After Jesus revealed Himself to the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus, they said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32). Our Lord desires to enflame our hearts also by revealing Himself to us in His Word. Take this opportunity to pause, and allow the Lord to make Himself known to you through the opening of the Scriptures which will ready your eyes to see Him in the breaking of the bread.
First Reading: Isaiah 35:4-7a
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10
Second Reading: James 2:1-5
Gospel: Mark 7:31-37
Step 1: Begin in prayer, asking the Lord to open your heart to receive how He wants to make Himself known to you. Then, attentively read the Scriptures.
Step 2: Consider these meditation prompts that follow from the readings:
- The miracles depicted in the first reading (Isaiah 35:4-7) are given as signs of God’s own coming (“Here is your God” [v. 4). Then, in the Gospel, we see Jesus fulfilling these very signs among the people. What was Jesus “saying” (or better, revealing) to the crowds by performing this specific healing?
- There are only two times in Mark’s Gospel in which Jesus “looked up to heaven” before performing a miracle, in Mark 6:41 before the feeding of the five thousand and here before the deaf man (7:34). Consider the relationship between these two scenes and what they reveal about Jesus. How does Jesus use material things to convey spiritual graces?
Step 3: Conclude with a prayer of gratitude and ask the Lord to keep these Words in your heart.
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