Today we celebrate the feast of St. Ephrem, of whom St. Jerome said, "Ephrem, a Deacon of the Church at Edessa, wrote many works in Syriac and became so famous that in some churches his works are read out publicly after the Sacred Scriptures." He was also known as the "Sun of the Syrians" and the "Harp of the Holy Spirit" because of his prolific biblical commentaries in the Syrian Church and his liturgical hymns. These hymns were written in order to refute the claims of the Gnostics, which were successfully propagated through verse and song.

God's ways are amazing. Those who are filled with love of the Lord proclaim the Good News in magnificent ways. St. Ephrem proclaimed God through verse and song. Tobias heals his father's vision with the gall of fish, Jesus healed the blind man with his spit and clay, Ananias cured Paul's blindness as foretold by God. The ways are different but the consequence was the same. Even today, those filled with the love of the Lord proclaim God in manifold ways, be it through acts of mercy like charity as done by the Brothers and Sisters of Mercy.