Ordinary Time 30, Year B-2009
- The Lord gives sight to the blind (Ps. 146:8)
No sooner had Bartimaeus heard, “Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you,” than “he threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.” That moment, I’d like to think, was the blind beggar’s star moment—I mean, he was then one of those stars that heard God’s call and replied, “‘Here we are!’ shining with joy for their Maker” (Bar. 3:35).
But to shine truly and have the joy that can never be taken away, the blind must really be healed of their blindness and follow Jesus on the way to Jerusalem—to shameful death, to painful self-emptying love that leads to the giving up of the body and the shedding of blood (cf. Mt. 5:16; Jn. 16:21-22). The blind therefore pray with St. Vincent de Paul (P. Coste IX, 360 as cited by Father Robert P. Maloney, C.M., in The Way of Vincent de Paul [Brooklyn, N.Y.: New City Press, 1992], pp. 104, 175):
- We are weak, O God,
- and capable of giving in at the first assault.
- By your pure loving kindness
- you have called us;
- may your infinite goodness, please,
- now help us persevere.
- For our part, with your holy grace,
- we will try with all our strength
- to summon up
- all the service and all the faithfulness
- that you ask of us.
- So give us, O God, give us the grace
- to persevere until death.
- This is what we ask of you
- through the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ....
