The WORD in other words (2018) by Fr Emil Lim SVD -Saint Jude Catholic School, Manila
Monday 33rd Week in Ordinary Time
Nature has a way of finding its own balance. For example, the snake has a very weak eyesight and is unable to see and target its prey. But it has a very sensitive tongue that accurately locates and identifies its food. Similarly, the blind can have a very good sense of hearing, or the deaf, a very good sense of touch.
The blind man from Jericho could not see but he could hear well that something extraordinary was happening that day: Jesus passing by. Even more amazing was while those who could see Jesus called him only by his popular name “Jesus of Nazareth,” the blind man called Jesus by his messianic title “Son of David.”
Here is a contrast between perception and sensing. For Jesus, the blind man’s perceptiveness, we also call faith, won over the many cries and shouts surrounding him that day. In a dramatic way the evangelist Luke describes it: “Then Jesus stopped.”
Have you ever wondered how many times an angel or Jesus himself passed by without stopping for us? Maybe we were hearing but not listening. (Think of the Mass we just attended.) Maybe we just stopped by the church but our minds and hearts were elsewhere. Maybe we have not reached that level of the blind man’s perceptiveness to see God because our eyes are glued to our smartphones.
Maybe the next time you really want to pray, pray like that blind man did. Stop and give your full attention to God’s presence. Let your spirit shout loud enough using simple, sincere, desperate words like “Lord, please let me see.” Then end your prayer with the joyful privilege that God stopped and attended to your plea – just you and Jesus, together.
