Friday of the First Week of Advent
I don’t recall ever hearing a doctor ask me before a surgery or procedure, either for myself or my children, “Do you believe that I can do this?” It seems kind of silly to imagine. Yet, I suppose, we are professing our faith in that doctor, in the medical field, when we consent to whatever it is that we are agreeing to have done. We are placing our trust and our bodies in the hands of that medical practitioner to repair, correct, heal, etc. And what if that physician also said to us, as Jesus said to the blind men in today’s gospel passage, “Let it be done for you according to your faith”? I suppose there have been some doctors I have put more faith in than others. But it causes me to wonder, do I have as much faith in Jesus as the blind men who said “Yes, Lord”?
I don’t mean to imply that if we aren’t physically healed it’s due to a lack of faith. We have limited, mortal bodies that are imperfect, break down, age (hopefully) and eventually die. Rather, I see this as an opportunity to reflect on our faith as playing a part in helping to bring about God’s love and healing in our midst.
Today’s first reading from Isaiah reminds us of God’s preference for the poor and vulnerable, the “lowly” and those often living on the margins of society. What if we cried out to Jesus, as the blind men did, seeking for our spiritual eyes to be opened to see as God sees those that our society often makes invisible? To see, as today’s Responsorial Psalm reminds us, the “bounty” or generosity of the Lord “in the land of the living” and to “gaze on the loveliness of the Lord and contemplate his temple.”
With eyes opened to see as God sees, might we see each person we encounter as a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19)?
The blind men cried out to Jesus, followed after him, approached him, and proclaimed “Yes, Lord” they believed he could do what they asked. Then, the passage tells us, “their eyes were opened” according to their faith. Let us pray this week for the faith to proclaim, “Yes, Lord, I believe you can do this,” that the eyes of our heart might be opened to see as God sees, and respond accordingly.
~Eileen Miller