He put his finger into the man’s ears

“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.” (MK 7: 32-35) 

When we have problems with communication with our spouses, the solution is not to improve our speaking but rather to improve our listening. Our Lord “put his finger into the man’s ears” first, and later “spitting, touched his tongue.” We need always to remember that love is in listening first, with gentleness, respect, and understanding. How often we are misled by our mistaken patterns of interpretation in our inner dialog; when we don’t really listen, we can’t properly speak. 

“Open our hearts, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son.” (Gospel Acclamation)