"Lord, that I may see."

In the recent pilgrimage of Pope Francis to the United States, to Washington, NYC, and Philadelphia, we were all very conscious of the security guard that surrounded Pope Francis every step of the way.  Obviously, there were concerns about his safety.  He had a tight schedule and so on and so on.  I think we were touched when Pope Francis broke through security to kiss a baby or simply to be present to a person and to bless them.  His reaching out to be with people was a most touching memory we have of our beloved pope.

In today’s Gospel, the disciples were the security guard for Jesus as He was leaving Jericho.  To keep some order and to keep people from bothering Jesus, the disciples kept people like the blind Bartimaeus as a distance.  The disciples basically told the blind beggar to shut up.  He was disturbing the peace.

The irony of this Gospel passage is that it was the disciples who were blind.  They had a spiritual blindness to the healing, merciful mission of Jesus.  They simply did not get it.  They were very content to leave people with disabilities as unnoticed people on the side of the road.

I wonder if we faithful Church goers, starting with the pastor, sometimes act as the security guard for Jesus in the same way that the disciples did in the Gospel account.  Who are the people we tell to shut up and we want to keep at a distance from our faith community.

Perhaps it is people who we judge are not living a moral life -- people with a different sexual orientation, people who have experienced separation and divorce in their married life, people we judge not to be living a Christ-like life, people we think are phonies, people who are disruptive to the ways we pray.  Often we are unaware of the ways we can keep people from experiencing the merciful love of Jesus.

May the blind man Bartimaeus represent all the unnoticed people, all the forgotten, people with disabilities, and the people we try to shut up in very polite words.  May we witness to the merciful love of Jesus to all who are in need.

As we pray over today’s Gospel, be aware of the physical blindness of Bartimaeus, and be aware also of the spiritual blindness of the disciples.  As we pray in the Bartimaeus, “Lord that I may see.  We pray for both physical and spiritual sightedness to the ways Jesus is present and the ways Jesus wishes to be present to all who are in need.

In the first Scripture reading from the prophet Jeremiah, the prophet is promising restoration to a weary people, promising the Israelites a future full of hope, promising God’s people a new dawn of God’s merciful love in their lives.  When you are beaten as the Israelites, your vision becomes jaded and you have a hard time believing that your future is full of hope.  But the clear message is that the crosses of life, when we are anchored in Christ, lead to the dawn of a new day.

Bartimaeus never gave up.  He was persistent.  He made known his request to God.  He was a man of faith.  In this account, he understood the mission of Jesus far better that the disciples die.

May we with the persistence of Bartimaeus ask the Lord that I may see.  May we see and experience the truth of our lives.  God’s love for us is unending.  Whatever anxiety we experience, whatever struggle we are dealing with, whatever disabilities hold us down, we all are the recipients of the abundant merciful love of Jesus.  Lord, that I may see how you are present to me in my time of need.

This week’s Gospel invites us to place ourselves along the way with Bartimaeus to contemplate and admit our own blind spots.  This is   bit of a challenge for all of us because it is so easy to be unaware of our own blind spots.

A blind spot in our spiritual spot may be the blindness from experiencing the merciful healing of Jesus in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  What is the last time we have experienced this sacrament?  What would it take for you to remove this spiritual blindness and know the forgiving love of Jesus in this beautiful sacrament?

Who are the unnoticed people on the side of the road that we so easily pass by?  How aware are we of the people near us in Church today?  What can we do to connect more fully with the people in our faith community?

Who is the person in our family life that we have built up a wall of blindness that makes it so difficult to reach out to.  Lord, that I may see how your grace can bring healing to this relationship?

The dialogue of Jesus with Bartimaeus is the dialogue Jesus has with us today.  The Lord is asking us:  What do you want me to do for you?  May we respond with Bartimaeus:  Lord, that I may see.  Let Bartimaeus be our guide.  He asks for the most important gift God can give.  May we see what is of real value in life.  May we know what is true.  May we judge rightly and walk confidently in the light of Christ. 

Notice in the account that the very first thing Bartimaeus sees when he is healed is the face of Christ.  To know Jesus is the key to the Christian life.   To know Jesus is to know God and our true self.

Bartimaeus’ prayer is answered.  Once he has seen Jesus face to face, there is no other life for him except to be with Jesus and to follow him.  He leaves behind his beggar’s cloak and joins Jesus and the other disciples on the way to Jerusalem.  Like a man in love, he has seen the face of his beloved, and there is no turning back.  May we too be cured of our blindness which keeps us from seeing the face of Jesus.  We seek the conversion that comes from encountering Christ.