Daily Gospel Reflection for November 14, 2016

Today's Gospel: Luke 18, 35-43

The beginning of this reading places us in Jericho, famously known for the blowing of horns and collapsing of walls in the early days of the Hebrew reconquest of Israel. The blind man in this reading was surely deeply familiar with the tale of Rahab, the single survivor of the destruction of Jericho, whom God spared for her kindness and bravery toward God's people. Convinced of the goodness of God toward his faithful ones spurs this blind man to be blind to others' opinions and proprieties, knowing in the core of his being that God will not ignore a heart consistently in love with Him.

I find it a most beautiful moment for this man when he regains his sight, because the first thing his eyes re-see in this world is the face of God. To lose sight, or be born blind is a life of visual darkness. And to know 'darkness' is to have lost light. He had been so long without seeing that he feared losing the memories of sight, no longer able to imagine what it is like to 'hear' with your eyes. When a baby first learns to distinguish things, it is fixated with wonder, staring at the blurs of color, learning to tell shape and texture and face apart. This man's opening of his eyes to see the Face of Christ staring back into his own will be what we see when we die, if we die well, and the face of Christ will come into color and focus, and we will be floored by what we were missing our whole lives.

Ponder:

Christ answered the blind man's call and gave him his sight, purely because of the beauty and strength of his faith. Pray that we too may also have the confidence, hope and faith to earn Christ's kindness.

Pray:

Lord My God, if it pleases you, give me eyes in my spiritual blindness, eyes to see You in my daily life, to see you living in others and how I should react to you in them. No matter who they are or how they live, you dwell in them in various states of glory or crucifixion, theirs to earn and mine to love. Son of David, 'let me see'.

Copyright 2016 Dominic de Souza

Dominic de Souza is a married and has a little girl, and works professionally in visual design. He moonlights as an author for children's books, always eager for fresh opportunities to share the beauty of the Catholic Faith with new friends. Visit him online at www.catholicauthor.us