30TH SUNDAY, YEAR B: REFLECTION BY FR. JULIAN EKEH

THEME: THE CRY FOR SIGHT: DON’T STOP TILL YOU HAVE RECEIVED

(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