Readings:
Revelations 1:1-4; 2:1-5
Luke 18:35-43
Reflection:
There is something so beautiful in the simplicity of today’s Gospel. A man without sight cries out in the darkness to Jesus for healing. His call is heard and he is healed.
I can think of so many times in my own life when I have wandered about, metaphorically blind. I couldn’t, or didn’t want to see what was right in front of me. I wanted to fix a problem myself, ignore an important issue, or blame others for causing a situation that was affecting me. I was truly without sight.
But the humble cry for mercy is really a divine moment of grace in which we acknowledge that we cannot restore sight, or insight, to ourselves; we cannot right the wrong, modify the course of events, change other people on our own. In our own human woundedness, we just need pity from our loving God.
In the Gospel, the blind man’s sight is restored. He had only to ask Jesus for healing and it was given. In one sense, sometimes the exact thing we ask God for doesn’t seem to appear as obviously as the blind man’s sight was restored. And yet if we only surrender to God and to His loving goodness then healing is possible – the healing that only God knows is ours to receive.
Today perhaps we can remember the ways in which God has, and continues, to heal our hearts and lessen our wounds. Perhaps we can be humble enough to just say, "Lord, help me."
Nancy Nickel is the Director of Communications for Holy Cross Province.