Dear friends,

As Jesus passed through Jericho, Bartimeus, the blind beggar knew that the chance of a lifetime was within his grasp and he began to cry out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

When he heard Jesus calling him he threw off his cloak and drew near to that welcoming voice, which responded to his pleas, "What do you want me to do for you?"

The cloak was all he possessed: the blanket for the night, the tent for the day. "Lord, that I may see."

There is no mention of anybody leading him to Jesus, as in other stories of healing of blind people. It seems as if Bartimeous could already see. Strange that a blind could see with his heart more than with his eyes since he recognized in the man Jesus passing by the promised Savior.

Seeing "who Jesus is" is the goal of faith, and it leads to discipleship. At the end of our story, we see how Bartimaeus regained his sight and followed Jesus on the way, namely: he became a disciple of Jesus

Blindness metaphor

The connections between seeing and believing are so strong that these miracles of healing worked by Jesus are more about growing in faith than letting the scales of blindness fall away.

We too have vision problems. Pride is very often the root of our blindness. We need the miracle of restored sight each day.

We can ask ourselves today: What corners of our Parish need serious healing? Where are our blind spots? Where are the big problems?

We must learn to see others as Jesus does, and we must love them, even those who are opposed to us.

As we recognize the things that blind us from the Lord and paralyze us from effective action, let us never cease begging the Lord to heal us! "Lord, that I may see!"

In the church bulletin we saw several times to appeal to be generous not only with our money, but with our personal gifts, with our time. What is our persona answer? What should I, and not other, do to claim the Parish for ourselves?