Homily (Reflection) for the Thirtieth
Sunday of the Year (B) (28th October, 2018) on the Gospel
Jer 31:7-9;
Ps 125
(R.V. 3);Heb 5:1-6;
Mk 10:46-52.
This is a story told of Cardinal Faulhaber, the renowned
Archbishop of Munich: “One day he was visiting a home for blind soldiers. He
walked through the home and cheered them up. He encouraged them and blessed
them. As he came to one blind soldier, he heard him praying, ‘Lord, I beg you
not to take away from me the light of my eyes, but if it is your will, at least
leave me the light of my mind, but if it is your will that I be deprived of
that, leave me at least the light of my faith.’
“The Cardinal stopped and asked the soldier were [sic] he
had learned such a beautiful prayer. The man replied he had learned it as a
child and had never forgotten it.”
Culled from Sagayanathan, A. (2009). Launching Pad: Stories for Sunday
Homilies, Year-A, B, & C. Bangalore: Asian Trading Corporation, pp.
227-228.
Topic: While seeking solutions.
We read from the gospel that a blind
beggar named Bartimaeus meaning the son of Timaeus was sitting by the roadside
begging for alms when he heard the tramp of feet of Jesus, his disciples, and
the large crowd that were following Jesus. Although the scripture did not tell
us how long he had been under the bondage of blindness but he was not born
blind, cf. v. 51. He must have heard
so much about Jesus that as soon as he learnt that Jesus was passing, he called
on to Him (began to shout and say): “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mk 10:47; cf. v. 48).
Bartimaeus longed for He who can do all things, cf. Mk 10:27; Lk 18:27. However between Bartimaeus
and He who can do all things, was a serious gap, the unnamed large crowd who sternly
ordered him to be quiet, cf. MK 10:48.
In Bartimaeus’ shouting, one sees a belief that Jesus is the
long-awaited Messiah, (cf. Is 9:1-7)
and that he could restore his sight. Hence, he could not be stopped by the
order from the crowd. Again, when he bridged the gap and was asked by Jesus
“What do you want me to do for you?” he responded: “My teacher, let me see
again” (Mk 10:51).
In response to Bartimaeus’ request Jesus said: “Go;
your faith has made you well” because it is through faith that the gap between
Bartimaeus and Jesus was bridged. And the gospel reads further: “Immediately he
regained his sight” (Mk 10:52). Bartimaeus
suffered from a physical blindness. We all suffer one form of ailment or
another – physical, psychological, spiritual, complex, and so on. Through the
prophet Isaiah God says: “Bring forth the people who are blind, yet have eyes,
who are deaf, yet have ears!” (Is 43:8).
In this we see another form of blindness which is more serious. Hence Reverend
Father Sagayanathan concludes the piece quoted above thus: “Certainly the loss
of one’s sight is a tragic affliction, but the loss of one’s faith is a greater
one”.
No matter how bad or good a situation is God remains
all-powerful. And no matter what you are going through, there is only one
channel to the solution and that is Jesus Christ to whom Bartimaeus called and was
freed from the bondage of physical blindness. Call on to him now with a faith
as firm as that of Bartimaeus. He listens to all his children whenever they
call on to him, cf. Jn 9:31. But to
move to Jesus, the source of all that is good, one must first bridge the gap
in-between like Bartimaeus. The gap between us and Jesus varies. But each of us
is capable of bridging the one between him/her and Jesus for God does not allow
any body to be tempted beyond his/her strength, cf. 1Cor 10:13.
There is an Igbo adage that no man or woman goes to bed with
a foreign object in his or her eyes. Every person as we have said is faced with
problems that seek for answers either in the form of solution or at least
explanation. And for any person to achieve any goal, salvation, destiny,
explanations, solutions, to be liberated, and so on, one must conquer gaps
which are challenges. It is faith that enables us to cross over to Jesus
because “whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he
rewards those who seek him” (Heb 11:6).
Without faith no one can trust in God’s saving power, cf. Ps 78:22; 106:24. The blind soldier prayed God to leave the light
of his faith even if it pleased him to take both the light of his eyes and the
light of his mind. We ought to keep our faith always even as we seek solutions
for our afflictions, cf. Ps 116:10.
Bible Reading: Ps 78; Is 43:1-13; Lk 11:1-13; 18:1-14; Matt
11:25-30.
Thought for today: Do you persist in calling on Jesus?
Let us pray: Our Father in heaven, without you we
are nothing. Look kindly upon us who are overburdened. Grant us the grace to put
our faith in you alone – Amen.
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