30TH SUNDAY, YEAR B: REFLECTION BY FR. JULIAN EKEH
THEME: THE CRY FOR SIGHT: DON'T STOP TILL YOU HAVE RECEIVED
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(Mark 10:46-52)
The importance of sight:
hindsight, insight, and foresight can never be overemphasized in our lives as
individuals, a people, Church, Country, Organization, etc.
We are presented today with the
story of the blind man, Bartimaeus. He was not only blind, he was equally poor,
which turned him into a beggar. This is because his blind condition has
rendered him incapacitated to do a lot of things for himself. He had begged for
different forms of assistance. Today, he begs in a very special way for sight.
He prioritized his request by going for what mattered most from the spiritual
realm, namely spiritual sight. We may as well add political sight and others in
our own cries for God's mercy.
SPIRITUAL SIGHT
Jesus came into the world as a
light to enlighten all men. In the Sacrament of Baptism, He opens our eyes and
makes us walk in light and no longer in the darkness.
As soon as Bartimaeus noticed the
source of light around him, He cried out for mercy. Sin makes us walk in
darkness. Corruption of all sorts keeps us in the dark. It is the will of God
that we see light in his light and always be children of the light, living in
the day and seeing the great deeds the Lord works and be gladdened in the
spirit. God wants us not to stumble. That is why He comes for us to deliver us
from dwelling in the darkness of sin and shame.
Let us, therefore, cease the
opportunity of the presence of God around us and cry out aloud for mercy till
we get His attention. We need to open our eyes to the things that are not
normal in our lives. We must beg God to help us see our weaknesses and faults
and, as such, pray for His grace.
We need to be uncomfortable with
our inability to see the goodness of the Lord in our lives. We need to pray for
the grace to be grateful to God. We need to see the good in others. We need to
see where the Lord is leading us and where He wants us to be as well as what He
wants from us at each point in time. We need to see reasons to pray, to live
holy lives, to avoid evil companies, to see the spiritual realities, to see
Jesus in the holy Eucharist, to see Jesus in that marital union, to see Jesus
at work in the priests, to see the Holy Spirit at work in one's life and
others, to see the hand of God blessing and forgiving us in the Sacrament of
penance, to feel the Holy anointing of God when we are sick, to indeed see
Jesus in the poor, the lonely and the unloved.
When we do not have eyes to see
these spiritual realities, then we need to call on God to stop and attend to
our matter in a very special way.
LET NOTHING STOP YOU
A lot of forces may want to stop
you from rising to see the Lord. A lot of offers may be given to shut you up
from reaching out for God's mercy. Friends, deceptive carers, etc, may give
advice, suggestions, and ways out to hold you down, to stop you from seeing
beyond the here and now.
Pay heed to the messengers of
Jesus when they will say to you: "Take heart; rise, he is calling
you." Throw off whatever the devil is using to blindfold you. Move to God
and tell Him what you want. As you pray
for sight today, may you receive it.
POLITICAL SIGHT ETC
Our country is like Bartimaeus
crying for sight; to see progress, to see development, to see employment, to
see good roads, to see working systems, to see good governance, to see
protection of life and property, to see religious tolerance and peace. The
political, religious, and cultural leaders, blindfolded by greed and
selfishness, have held us down in darkness, and we keep groping, begging, and
cannot help ourselves any longer.
The above scenario has landed us
into other forms of blindness such as cultural, academic, moral, marital,
economic, social blindness etc. We need sight in all these areas.
Only God can help us in these
situations. Let us call on Him. Let us challenge the blind leaders among us on
the need for sight. Let us pray for spiritual insights. Let us learn from our
hindsight and work with foresight to be where God wants us to be. May God bless
His word in our hearts.
LET US PRAY
We thank You, Lord Jesus, today
as we cry to You for mercy, that we may see. We want to see Your mercy, Your
glory and Your goodness in our lives. Heal us of our spiritual blindness and
deliver us from our political, religious, cultural, and moral blindness. May we
receive in faith the light we need for good sight, the unction we need for
proper functioning through Christ our Lord. Amen
Happy Sunday (30th Sunday, Ordinary Time, Yr B)
Rev Fr Julian O Ekeh
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