Homily Thirty-Third Monday of Ordinary Time (Lk. 18:35-43) “Lord I Want to See”
Homily Thirty-Third Monday of Ordinary Time (Lk. 18:35-43) “Lord I Want to See”
Jesus, like many rabbis, did not teach in a school. He did not have his disciples sitting in a classroom. His classroom was the great outdoors. He taught while he was walking from place to place.
We read today that he was on his way to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. People would line the roadway before Passover or other major Jewish feasts to watch the pilgrims go by.
As Jesus was walking to Jerusalem, he was teaching his disciples. They were crowded in beside him to hear what he was saying. Needless, to say it was probably hard to hear so when a blind man cried out it was irritating to those walking with Jesus. They told him to be quiet.
The typical preacher would have been irritated as well. I know that if I have prepared a homily and put a lot of time into it, I am not happy if an emergency vehicle goes by with the siren blaring. I want to be heard.
Jesus was not like me thank goodness. His first interest was not in talking, but he was interested in putting the Gospel into practice. A friend of mine once said to me, “It is not what we say, but how we live our lives that is most important.
Jesus stopped everything to heal the blind man. Neither the blind man nor Jesus was going to be kept from their encounter. When connected, there was a great lesson taught about blindness and seeing.
We have a lot of blindness in our society right now. It seems that our country is divided into two camps. One group sees one reality while the other sees another. Why is this the case? Because objective truth is no longer respected. Everything is thought to be a lie. We pray that we will see the truth that Jesus saw. That is 20/20 vision.
Reflection Questions:
- When I hear a piece of news that seems outrageous do I take time to fact check it? Do I really want to know objective truth?
- Jesus stopped what he was doing to help a person in need? Am I so focused on my agenda that I don’t have time for others?
Dear Parishioners,
Our lives are once again being dialed back by the Corona Virus. We all our unhappy about that. Our schools are being shut down. Our restaurants are going back to curbside service. Other non-essential services are being curbed.
We can get very mad about this. I find that when I am angry, I do not think very straight. I find it strange that some believe that somehow the pandemic a vast conspiracy. I know of people who have died and have become very sick because of COVID.
We need to let go of our blindness and try to see. Do we really think that any leader would willingly shut down our economic and social activity?
We have true public servants who are trying to protect us. We should not curse them or threaten them. We should thank God that they have the courage to offend people, if they must, in order to protect the health of citizens. I am sure that most of those who are on the front lines of the pandemic fighting the battles could walk away and do other things, but they continue the struggle.
Let’s pray for them and love them for their sacrifice.
May Our Lady and All the Angels and Saints watch over you.
Fr. Mark