Advent Day 6: I see (or do I?)

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TODAY’S GOSPEL READING (Mt 9:27-31)

From Matthew 9:28-29:

When he entered the house,
the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them,
“Do you believe that I can do this?”
“Yes, Lord,” they said to him.
Then he touched their eyes and said,
“Let it be done for you according to your faith.”

From Opening the Scriptures: Bringing the Gospel of Matthew to Life, page 175:

“The men want to be able to see and Jesus knows that this is what they want. He asks them whether they believe he can do this. This is the only time in Matthew’s gospel (or in any gospel) that Jesus asks anyone whether they believe that he is able to heal them. ‘”Yes, Lord,” they said to him.’ Calling Jesus ‘Lord” is an acknowledgment of his authority and power to give them sight. Their faith has been demonstrated by their following Jesus and crying out to him, even though he seemed to ignore them.”

From Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture: The Gospel of Matthew, page 137:

“[The blind men] call Jesus Son of David — the first time someone addresses him with the royal title that has messianic overtones. ‘Son of David’ also brings to mind David’s heir, King Solomon, who was known in Jewish tradition as a great healer and exorcist.”

From Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word (Volume I), pages 493-494:

“In the end, this faith [of the blind men] proves to be omnipotent, because it is a whole-hearted embracing of the full reality of the presence of the incarnate Word. Faith rejoices in a natural blindness that is the precondition for the vision of God….Our own native lights need to be extinguished if Jesus is to light his lamp in our souls….Whatever empties itself out of itself in order to receive omnipotence, itself becomes omnipotent, just as only total darkness can receive the uncreated Light (St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul)….The blind men set no condition to God but rather open themselves up wholly and actively to the divine action.”

My take

Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. (Mt 17:20)

Jesus’ words to the blind men in today’s Gospel and His words above, further along in the same Gospel, should be a wake-up call to us, encouraging driving us to deep prayer and contemplation. What can Jesus not do if we place ourselves totally in His hands? Jesus can do any good thing. It is we who dampen or even short-circuit His healing power.

I have for months now been reading, as a spiritual exercise, Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade. At first, the radical nature of the good Father’s advice took me aback (and sometimes still does, over 300 pages in). But his admonition to give up our own will and self-concern in favor of whatever the Lord ordains or permits for us, makes total sense. What peace we would have if we simply, “Let go and let God,” as the popular saying goes. Emptying out ourselves, as Father Simeon says in Fire of Mercy, allows in God.

What if we “set no condition to God but rather open [our]selves up wholly and actively to the divine action”? What a radical difference that would make! Lord, make me blind to worldly concerns so that I can be open to truly seeing You.

ADVENT RESOURCES

ADVENT/CHRISTMAS READING

Jesus Healing Two Blind Men (undated) by Patriarchate of Peć by School Serbian

God bless!

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