30th Sunday In Ordinary Time – Year B
Fr. Mark Gatto
Preached: Oct. 28, 2018
The Bible is a foundation of our Catholic Faith. It should be central in the spirituality of each one of us. There are many ways to read the Bible. We can study it in order to understand it more fully. But, most importantly we are to pray with and meditate on the Bible. For it is the Word of God that leads us into a closer relationship with the Living God. It is not a book of science nor a book of history, but it is a book to lead us into relationship with God. When we reflect on the Gospels we are able to know Jesus more deeply.
One way of praying with the Gospels is to use our imagination. St. Ignatius encourages us to enter into the Gospel passage with our imagination. In the passage we just heard of the healing of the Blind Man, if we only see a nice miracle that happened 2000 years ago, it will not change us at all. But, if we see ourselves as that Blind Man and imagine that encounter with Jesus, then it can challenge me today.
It might lead us to ask, How am I blind?
How do I need healing so that I see again or in a new way?
- Those who are married might ask, “am I blind to the needs of my spouse?”
- Parents might ask, “am I blind to the needs of my children?”
- A friend might ask, “am I blind to the needs of a friend?”
- Many of us might ask, “am I blind to the beauty in creation?”
- Others might ask, “am I blind to the reasons I have to be grateful?”
- In what way am I blind in my life and need the healing that Jesus can bring to me?
Jesus calls the Blind Man, he was not rich, he was not famous, he was just a beggar who had nothing to give in return. Yet when he is called by Jesus it says that he “sprang up and came to Jesus.” Do we go to Jesus with such enthusiasm? Do we really want to have our blindness healed? Do we really want to see in a new way?
There is a story of an old Rabbi had become blind and could neither read nor look at the faces of those who came to him. A faith healer said to him, “Entrust yourself to my care and I will heal your blindness.” The Rabbi replied, “There will be no need for that, I can see everything that I need to.”
We can also see in the worse moments, the hardest moments of life. Even these difficult moments can be redeemed. The spiritual life has no dead ends.
Everything can be used for transformation. When we look at the Cross, we see that God took the worst thing, “the killing of God”, and made it into the best thing, redemption of the world. We need to see in a new way. Suffering is not God’s will, but suffering is one thing that is able to bring down our ego, our arrogance, our pride. Suffering can heal the blindness that prevents us from seeing the needs of others.
We need to be like the Blind Man, springing up to go to Jesus, by meditating on the Gospels.
Enter into the Gospels with our imagination to encounter Jesus. Then, like the Blind Man, we may be healed of any blindness in our lives. Even might be able to see underneath the suffering and hurts of life.
There is a new movie out called A Beautiful Boy about a father trying to save his son from his struggle with drug addiction. I have not seen it yet, but I did read a review and saw this quote, “Underneath the scars and flaws, underneath the mistakes we make and the falls we take, a tiny glow of our God given beauty lingers.”
We all need to go to Jesus like the Blind Man, to heal any blindness that we have to needs of others, any blindness to the beauty and goodness in our life. We need Jesus to heal that blindness that prevents us from seeing that beauty lingering within others and within ourselves.
