Earlier this year I became the recipient of retinal migraine headaches. Unlike migraine headaches which bring great pain and can last for hours, the retinal migraine headaches I contracted happened sporadically and primarily affected my right eye which is far sighted. There is no pain associated with it and lasts anywhere from a few seconds to about five minutes usually resulting in temporary blindness. They have a potential to lead toward strokes and death in serious cases. According to my doctor, I currently have a mild case to be watched but unless the frequency picks up I should be okay.
When it first happened, it was a frightening experience because it lasted five minutes and I thought I was suffering permanent blindness. Nothing I seemed to do would make it go away or improve my sight. Thankfully, I was not driving or making movements that could cause injury to me or others.
As time went on and the instances decreased in length and to partial blindness, I began to think more about those who suffer from loss of sight, whether temporarily or permanently. How difficult it must be for someone, whether born blind or who suffers from an illness or accident, to be able to see and conduct their lives. Is it any wonder that Bartimaeus in St. Mark’s Gospel asks Jesus to be able to see? What a change this made in his life. How overwhelmed he was that upon immediately being healed he followed Jesus as a disciple.
Jesus told him it is his faith that saved him. In fact, Jesus has said that to many people He has healed who suffered from various ailments. It causes me to wonder how many of us are suffering from blindness in that we are not practicing the faith as Jesus has asked us to do who espouse discipleship. Are we spreading the Gospel message by both word and in taking action, in addition to our thoughts about doing something we put off time and time again.
Bartimaeus was shouting out to Jesus, who he accepted as the Son of God when he calls Him the Son of David, to take pity on him. The crowd instead is telling him to be quiet until Jesus tells them to call him. Then they respond by telling the blind man to “take courage, get up, Jesus is calling you.” Isn’t Jesus calling all of us? And yet, if someone interferes with what we believe to be the way to reach out, we shut down the very reason why God calls all of us: To be one with Him in all that we are in faith, hope and love.
Discipleship calls for us to open our hearts, minds, souls and strength in love of God and all that He has created as Jesus love us. We are to practice this all the time no matter where we are at and with whom we are present. That may be as simple as saying a kind word or spending time in helping a person with a problem they have difficulty in coping.
Let us take this week to see where in our life we are blind to the needs of the world as defined by Jesus to serve those in need. In doing so, let us make a decision to open our eyes to how we can bring the Holy Spirit to life. This is the time for us to take courage, get up and do God’s calling as we promise by our Baptism. Hopefully, whatever decision we make about this will clarify our sight and others in bringing us closer to Jesus as we call out to Him to work in our lives.
Reading 1: Jeremiah 31: 7-9
Reading 2: Hebrews 5: 1-6
Gospel: Mark 10: 46-52
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