Readings:
1 Maccabees 1:10-15, 41 – 43, 54 – 57, 62 – 64
Luke 18: 35 – 43
Reflection:
‘Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!’
We all have usually seen a blind person, perhaps someone walking with a white cane – feeling his or her way carefully, perhaps helped by a friend or family member. Often such a person may have a dim awareness of light or even of indistinct shapes of those who pass by. Usually for a blind person, he or she lives in darkness, devoid of colour, of the joy of seeing the faces of loved ones, of enjoying the colours of flowers and the world around them. I’m sure we can all feel sympathy or even empathy for such a person.
This is a vivid image of life without the light of faith. We are so blessed are we not, to know that God is a loving God who has given us Jesus to overcome the power of darkness and sin and to give us the light of our faith ?
Let us look at the blind man of the Gospel account. He is sitting by the road as Jesus and his disciples are about to pass by. He hears the excited talking of people and asks someone what is it all about. They tell him that Jesus the Nazarene is passing by. We can almost feel the desperate hope surge in his heart.
“Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”
Let me too come before the Lord as a blind man or woman with my begging bowl. Let me feel my emptiness – my total dependence on God for any giftedness,
for the joy of life, for the light of faith, for the dull glow of hope amid the darkness.
“Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”
Jesus asks you: ‘What do you want me to do for you?”
Let each of us speak to the Lord out of our need. Then we will truly know his healing, his light and peace.
Pat McIndoe CP, a Passionist at St. Gabriel’s Retreat, Boroko, Port Moresby