Daily Reflection – 2/15/2023
Sacred Scripture
When Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethsaida, they brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on him and asked, “Do you see anything?” Looking up he replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.” Then he laid hands on his eyes a second time and he saw clearly; his sight was restored, and he could see everything distinctly. Then he sent him home and said, “Do not even go into the village.” (Mark 8:22-26)
Reflection
In today’s gospel, there is more than Jesus’ healing of the blind man because that miracle helped the disciples recover from their own spiritual blindness. Perhaps that is why Jesus has to take the blind man outside the village and be with his disciples to do the healing.
Like the disciples and the man in the gospel, we are also “blind” in many ways. We have been “touched” through baptism, and our eyes opened to faith but blindness still overshadows us most of the time. Jesus has been with us from the very beginning of our life, and we have seen how great God is in our lives. Maybe not in strange and huge ways but I know God showed something important and wonderful to each of us in our lives.
But then, various reasons or even events in life have caused each of us to remain blind at times. It might be fear, anger, guilt, self-aggrandizement, temptations, human weakness, and politics, to mention a few. Or we just get caught up with the busy-ness of our lives. We know God is there but its not as important as an event in our lives that lead us to be blind to us.
Yet, we must be sensitive to the actions of Jesus in our live. We need to take seriously where Jesus is leading us. He is leading us to have clear eyes. To not only see His presence but to be Christ-like in our actions. But again, our determination to be self-sufficient or to determine the outcome of our life “our way” gets in the way of “seeing.” The truth is we cannot lead others if we are blind.
There is a beautiful, contemplative hymn “Christ, Be Our Light” and its lyrics remind us of why we need to be alert to our call.
Longing for shelter, many are homeless
Longing for warmth, many are cold
Make us Your building, sheltering others.
Walls made of living stone.
Do you see? No matter how much or how little each of us have, we also have something much bigger, our God has called us to lead others out of darkness. Each time, we touch in love, each time, we speak love, each time we step outside of our very selves, put our “issues” aside and help another, we bring the light of Christ’s love to another. Is there anything more important than that?
WOW!
But there is still another dimension. The magnificence of His love for us is shown in the inner transformation that occurs within us. Each time, we open our eyes and see the needs of another, we grow more like Him.
“Walls made of living stone.”
The hand of Christ is always there to take away the scales from our eyes and from our mind. We need to stay in constant dialogue so that we can see and hear Him in our lives. Constant prayer is just that – throughout the day have spontaneous conversations with Him.
Let our eyes be opened! If at first, we see dimly, then maybe we need to try and look again. We WILL see clearly.
Prayer of The Day
“Jesus, help me to abandon myself to you. I want to trust in you completely. Knowing that I am weak, and you are my strength gives me confidence. Help me to remember that I am small and you are great. You are the one who deserves the glory. Help me to go about quietly doing good like you.
Daily Note
Jesus shows us the process of faith. Faith is not always an instantaneous light that falls upon us, but rather a continuing process that take us to the light and allows us to see clearly. Yet, the first step of faith—to begin seeing God’s light— is already a reason for joy. Augustine of Hippo wrote: “Once the eyes have been cured, what else can we, o brothers, have more valuable? Let those who can see that light enjoy it, whether it flares in the sky or comes from a torch. And how unhappy should they feel those who cannot see it!”
