Scripture for today's reflection can be found at Memorial of Saint Francis Xavier, Priest | USCCB
In our gospel today from St. Matthew, we hear of the
healing of the two blind men. They had heard of all the great things Jesus was
doing and developed that trust and faith in Jesus and believed that He can heal
them. They were persistent in their desire to have Jesus heal them. They
followed Jesus into the house, and they humbly approached him to ask for
healing and the restoration of their sight. “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on
us.” (Matthew 9:27) Jesus asks, “Do you believe that I can do this?” (Matthew 9:28) When
they respond with a “yes”, he touches them and says, “Let it be done for you according to
your faith.” (Matthew 9:29) and they were healed.
Central to all the
healings that Jesus does in the gospels is that of faith on the part of those
being healed. Where are we in our relationship with Jesus? Do we have the same
faith in Jesus that these men had? These blind men we hear of today were
physically blind and found healing and then went about sharing the good news of
Jesus with everyone they met. We need to ask ourselves “Where are we blind and need
healing?” These men discovered the Lord and once healed, share their faith with
other people.
Like the men in today’s
gospel, we need to realize our dependance on Jesus in our lives. We need to be
persistent in our prayers to Him for all our needs and concerns. They had the
faith they needed in order to be healed. Nothing else mattered to them. Their
whole trust was in Jesus and his power to heal them. And Jesus answered their request
based on their faith in him to do it for them. We need to be able to put our
whole trust in Jesus in the different problems we face each day, or the issues
we may face in our families. We need to bring our troubles to the Lord and ask
for healing.
Putting our trust in
Jesus in our lives is important, and, in all humility, we need to realize that
Jesus will respond to our prayer requests according to what He feels is best
for us. These men were able to receive their sight back and were able to preach
Jesus to those in their lives. For each of us Jesus will respond in a way that
is best for us. It may not be in the way we ask, but in the way we need. Jesus
knows our needs better than we do. All we need to do is to place all our cares
into the loving hands of Jesus and know that He’ll respond to us in a way
that’s best for us and those we pray for. As you approach the altar for Holy Communion,
pray the words of these blind men, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” You
will then receive the healing and peace that you need that can only come from
Jesus.
The great challenge of faith is that we really don't know the mind of GOD & we don't know how He will respond to our prayers. The challenge is trusting that He knows & will do what is best for us, especially when it is different from what we have asked Him to do. We know & believe He has all the power & all the love sufficient to heal us, but He is sovereign & we don't know what He is doing or planning. Sometimes it is merely a matter of waiting for His timing, & He is working in us & others & in the circumstances of life to get everything ready (including ourselves) to receive what we desire. But sometimes His plans are different & hard to understand. That is why faith is NOT a matter of "name it & claim it" but a matter of combining perseverance with TRUST & "letting GOD BE GOD" & not some sort of "genie in a bottle". That is why I like the approach of the man with leprosy who came up to JESUS & said "If You will it, You can make me clean".
ReplyDelete