I can see clearly now the rain is gone; I can see all obstacles in my way; gone are the dark clouds that had me blind, gonna be a bright, bright sun shiny day! A great song from way back in the seventies by Johnny Nash. How often do we feel blind even if we have perfect vision? How often in life we can't see the obvious, or what is right in front of us, or, as that old saying goes, can't see the forest for the trees?
As people of faith we are called to see with eyes of faith; we are called to not be blinded by sin.
And that is just what we heard in the proclamation of today's Gospel. We just heard the story of blind Bartimaeus. You see he is called blind because he cannot see, with his eyes. Yet the Gospel reveals to us that Bartimaeus is really far from being blind; his eyesight is his incredible faith. Despite blindness, it is Bartimaeus who recognizes Jesus as the son of David and he recognized Jesus as the one who could truly have pity on him. He knows he is there, so Bartimaeus calls out, Jesus, son of David, have pity on me. Brothers and sisters, in our own lives, do we take the time to recognize Jesus in our everyday midst and call out to Him, Jesus, have pity on me, open my eyes blinded by my own sins? When Bartimaeus was summoned to go to Jesus, Scripture tells us that he sprang up, threw off his cloak and found his way to Jesus; blind, he found his way to Jesus. Even in our spiritual blindness, how eager are we to spring up, toss aside our obstacles and come to Jesus? As Bartimaeus stands in front of Jesus, we hear Jesus ask directly: what do you want me to do for you? Bartimaeus answers simply, Master, I want to see. Jesus is standing right in front of us, yet we may be blinded by sin or some obstacle yet He asks us what do you want me to do for you? Imagine hearing Jesus asking that of us; yet everyday, He does. Would we respond, Jesus I want to see; I no longer want to be blind? Would we tell Jesus to open my eyes of faith so we can truly walk by faith and not by sight?
The last thing Jesus tells Bartimaeus is go, your faith has saved you. Jesus tells us to toss aside our spiritual blindness as our faith saves us too. At the end of every Mass, in the words of the liturgy, we hear, go, announce the Gospel of the Lord or go, glorifying the Lord by your life. When we go, when we return to home, to work, to school, to car lines, to red lights, to trips to Walmart, waiting to see the doctor, for long times, to running the kids from school, to practice, to another appointment, in all these things, will we see Jesus and our faith clearly? Will we see all the obstacles in our lives, so we can avoid them, those obstacles being sin?
Having been nourished by the words of this Gospel, and soon to nourished by the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, hidden from our sight by simple appearances of bread and wine, how can we leave here without eyes of faith wide open? How could we allow spiritual blindness to creep back in to our lives?
This Gospel comes on the same weekend that the Synod on the Family concluded in Rome. At the end of the day, the Church continues to support the family and marriage as defined by Jesus. In the coming days, secular media reports, enemies of the Church, and others who we may not even know about yet will try to blind us to the truth. Reports will surface that the Church changed this or re-worked that. Do not be blinded by such things. For our part, with our eyes of faith, may we learn that faith in Jesus Christ includes following all the teachings of His bride, The Church. Our spiritual eyesight and our faith, which can save us, compels us to see sin for what it is sin and to avoid it, no matter what the world, the media, people of other faiths or even Catholics whose eyes remained blind, may tell you!
In the week ahead, can we re-read this Gospel at least twice, placing ourselves in the story as the blind Bartimaeus. In doing so, can we inventory those things that keep us blind, those things that prevent my eyes of faith from seeing clearly now? Then take this all to pray, asking Jesus to open my eyes Lord, I want to see!
I can see clearly now, Jesus has removed all obstacles in my way; Jesus has rolled back all those clouds that had me blind; Jesus makes it a bring SON-shiny day!
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