<\/p>\n
Ah, if only we could see.<\/p>\n
Sirach first says that he will \u201crecall God\u2019s works- what I have seen.\u201d\u00a0 And then proceeds to describe how God\u2019s word, once spoken, just happens, and fulfills that word.\u00a0 Then he gives a summary of the wonders of creation that followed, and the depths of the understanding and wisdom of God.\u00a0 He also says that the Most High \u201csees from of old the things that are to come\u201d.\u00a0 Just imagine that, the ability to see the future.\u00a0 And so, God sees and understands all things and has offered to share that understanding and wisdom with all of us through the Spirit- the Spirit which was his recent gift to all of us at Pentecost.\u00a0 It is that Spirit which motivates us to understand and do God\u2019s will.\u00a0 In other words, it is the Spirit that enables us to see, to really see.<\/p>\n
In the Gospel, Bartimaeus cries out in hope to Jesus.\u00a0 And when Jesus calls him forward, he throws off his cloak- his one prized possession.\u00a0 You see, that cloak was his protection against the wind and rain and the elements; his sleeping bag and a symbol of security.\u00a0 But he throws off that cloak, and walks away from it.\u00a0 It is almost as if he is turning his back on the past.\u00a0 And he goes towards Jesus, not only blind, but in blind trust.\u00a0 Such faith.\u00a0 And Jesus gives him sight in reward for that faith.<\/p>\n
The question is, what did he see when he was gifted with sight.\u00a0 Did he just see the world as most of us gifted with sight from birth do?\u00a0 Or did he see things in the light of the Spirit as Sirach describes?\u00a0 We do know that Bartimaeus \u201cfollowed him on the way\u201d, so it would appear that Bartimaeus saw something more than just the beauty of creation.<\/p>\n
How about you and I?\u00a0 Are we blinded by the real message of God and the Gospel by the clutter of life and all the things of the world?\u00a0 Or do we see through the lens of the Spirit we received at Pentecost- a Spirit of wisdom and understanding of the will of God for us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thursday of the\u00a08th Week in Ordinary Time Sirach 42: 15-25; Mark 10: 46-52 Dc. Larry Brockman Ah, if only we could see. Sirach first says that he will \u201crecall God\u2019s works- what I have seen.\u201d\u00a0 And then proceeds to describe how God\u2019s word, once spoken, just happens, and fulfills that word.\u00a0 Then he gives […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[230],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=383"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":384,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383\/revisions\/384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}