-“He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”-

Ephphatha.
Be opened.
Hear the children in Gaza crying.
Hear the children in Gaza dying.

No translation necessary.
Pain sounds the same in all languages.

Sometimes,
when a woman’s breasts are full of milk,
any hungry child’s wail,
will make them spill.
A reflex.

So complex,
and so simple,
we are made for caring.
.
Do we spill a tear,
for the children,
who are crying,
who are dying,
in Gaza?

So.
Many.
Dead mothers.

Tombstones,
former cornerstones.
Hospitals,
schools
wombs of prayer,
are crushed,
like the unanswered hopes,
of the people of Gaza.

What happens to the milk,
in the breasts,
of the dead mothers under Gaza?

Ephphatha.
Be opened.
Hear the orphans,
if you can,
over the engine of the United States war machine,
that grinds the metal,
that grinds the bones,
of the dead mothers,
under Gaza.

Their fuel is October 7,
but their gears were turning long before,
causing desperation to mutate into terror,
while stock holder reports,
display landscapes of profit charts.
Their geography of lightbulbs,
and pick-up trucks,
and death.

There is no just war,
put down the sword.
The only side to be on is the side of peace.
Israel has orphans too,
but the killing has not dried their tears.

Ephphatha.
Be opened.
Open your mouth and speak.
Including,
maybe especially,
from
pulpit and pew.
Preach peace.
What WOULD Jesus do?
This is no time,
to be tongue-tied,
about genocide.

Cry for peace,
protect all life,
value all families.

Ephphatha, be opened,
speak for the orphans who are crying in Gaza.

(Bible passage found on Bible Gateway, New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition)