"As Jesus left Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, Bartimaeus (that is, the son of Timaeus), a blind beggar, was sitting at the side of the road. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout and to say, ‘Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me.’ And many of them scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he only shouted all the louder, ‘Son of David, have pity on me.’ Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him here.’ So they called the blind man. ‘Courage,’ they said ‘get up; he is calling you.’ So throwing off his cloak, he jumped up and went to Jesus. Then Jesus spoke, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ ‘Rabbuni,’ the blind man said to him ‘Master, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has saved you.’ And immediately his sight returned and he followed him along the road."
-Mark 10:46-52
As usual the the Gospel once again shows about how Jesus is able to perform Miracles. Amazingly he has the ability to bring sight to the blind and grace to the broken hearted. Today's Gospel reading was very much focused on Faith, perfectly in par with the Pope's "Year of Faith" theme. Also today, by God's grace I had (well I woke up in the morning wanting to do it, and by chance the head altar server suddenly asked me) to serve Mass.
I was surprised and also excited to once again to serve Mass. Get right into the action!
Father David's Gospel was as usual long, but it was meaningful, I doubt many actually listened to it and managed to dose off; from what I saw from the altar. Anyway, Father said three things that I think should be made a guideline in my personal exploration of faith.
First he said about courage, to call for God. Why be afraid to seek help? The infamous "Ask and you shall receive" (Lk 11:9) is demonstrated by the beggar himself, when people told him to shut up, the more he shouted for Lord. Similarly in life, we shouldn't be afraid to seek help, not only form God, but as importantly to seek help of friends and people that you can rely on. Father David, also mentioned about praying consistently, id est seeking help from God at all times. Rid the fear of asking and we should just be humble and seek help, be it getting lost in a city, or getting confused on what seasoning to put next or even losing direction in how to get her heart.
Second he spoke about throwing your cloak and going to Jesus. Well not literally obviously; throwing your cloak as the beggar did meant that we all should lose our barriers or obstacles that hind us from going closer to Jesus. Certainly, we always want something from God, yet sometimes we pull ourselves back by not seeing that there are many things that hinder us from going to God. As simply, as gossiping, sloth-ing, and even gluttony, that somehow or another distracts us from doing the right thing and so because of that we lose sight of God. When we want to return to him, we should realize our mistakes and asking for forgiveness, yes he is forgiving, but think about it- there is this one person you really love, and whatever he or she does is forgiven but knowing that he or she has done many things that has offended you and comes to you asking for help, without even saying "I am sorry" to you, how would you feel?
Third, Father spoke about the importance following Christ himself. After the beggar got healed he got up and followed Jesus, simply as that. Picture this, if we were given a second chance to do the right thing, wouldn't we do it? If we had failed a paper before and was given another shot at it (surely you have to pay for it), would you still attempt to fail? The same applies here, once we already been healed and given the chance to start afresh why should we waste it, in fact we should change ourselves for the better in not only to serve God but also everyone else around us.
Mass went on as usual, my fellow brother and I had a comical time, setting up the altar for consecration; we exchanging glances and it was too noticeable.
