Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 9, 2024
Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”)
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Reflecting on today’s gospel has transformed how I pray the Mass each Sunday.
First, there is the bold hope of the people who bring the deaf man to Jesus and beg the Lord to lay his hands on the man. It has reminded me to be more intentional about the people or the situations that I bring to Jesus each Mass, offering them on the altar as Jesus offers himself to the Father for the life of the world.
In the process, I have started learning how to beg—to humbly care about something or someone so much that I trust the Lord enough not to give up. With specific family members or friends in mind, or with a cry for peace and healing amid so much division and conflict, I have found myself imploring Jesus to lay his hands on those whom I have placed at the foot of the cross.
Next, today’s gritty scene highlights the vulnerable trust of the deaf man. It has helped me realize that, even as I celebrate the liturgy in communion with fellow believers, Jesus longs to take me off by myself away from the crowd. At each Mass, I have started asking myself in what ways I need to hear Jesus say, “Ephphatha!”
I quietly pray, “Lord, open my ears that I might hear your efficacious word,” when the priest says, “This is my body, given for you…” And I pray, “Lord, open my eyes that I might behold you,” when the priest proclaims, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
Today’s narrative concludes with the exceeding astonishment of all the people. May we feel equal astonishment and rejoice when we hear the final dismissal at Mass, “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.”
“Thanks be to God!”
Prayer
Lord Jesus, the people begged you to heal the deaf man with a speech impediment. At your touch and your word, he heard and he spoke plainly. In your compassion, Lord Jesus, help us to hear your word and to speak it with conviction. Amen.
Saint of the Day

St. Miguel was born in November 1854 as Francisco Luis Febres-Cordero y Muñoz in a small village high up in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador. His father was a professor who was deeply involved in the politics of the newly independent Ecuador. Francisco was born crippled, but at age five, he was cured of his deformity miraculously through a vision of the Virgin Mary.
Francisco attended a Christian Brothers high school, and was a bright and studious pupil. As soon as he entered, he said, he felt a great longing to also become a Christian Brother (also known as the La Salle Brothers). Since the La Salle Brothers were a relatively newer order, his family objected—they wanted him to join a more prestigious, more established religious order.
His family enrolled him in the diocesan seminary, but Francisco fell quite ill and had to leave the seminary before completing his first year. As his health was deteriorating, his family allowed him to return to school with the Christians Brothers. Reluctantly, his father finally gave Francisco permission to join the order as a brother. Francisco's relationship with his father was tense for most of his years as a brother in the La Salle Institute, but the two men were eventually reconciled before his father's death in 1882.
At the age of fourteen, Francisco joined the order on March 24, 1868. He took the name Brother Miguel. After his novitiate year, although he was only fifteen, Brother Miguel was sent to teach in Quito, Ecuador's capital. He would teach for nearly forty years. He became an internationally recognized scholar of the Spanish language, publishing his first book before he was twenty.
As novice-master, Miguel cared for the young men who joined the order in the tumultuous political environment of Ecuador's shifting regimes. His talents both in the formation of the younger brothers and in academic work caught the attention of the Institute's leaders in Rome. They sent Miguel to various houses around Europe. Miguel was homesick for Ecuador and his life there. In the summer of 1909, Miguel was in Barcelona, during a week of upheaval known as la semana trágica, "the tragic week." During this week of protests and strikes, churches were burned throughout the city. Although the house of the Brothers survived (a miracle many credit to the statue of the Blessed Virgin that Brother Miguel left in the window), and the Brothers returned safely to the city, the incident took a great toll on Brother Miguel's health.
In the winter of 1910, his health began to fail and on February 9, 1910, Brother Miguel passed away. When news reached the Catholics in Ecuador, they mourned the loss of their beloved hero. He was buried in Barcelona, but, in 1937, his remains were returned to his native country, to great rejoicing.
Brother Miguel was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1984. His great-grandnephew, the president of Ecuador, León Febres Cordero, was present at his canonization.
St. Miguel Febres Cordero, who dedicated his entire life to humble service of God—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Miguel Febres Cordero is used with permission from Catholic Online. Last accessed January 23, 2025.