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[__01_] This gospel is about the healing of the blind Bartimaeus. I'd like to connect this idea of blindness to darkness and other causes of or lack of visibility or vision.
A
couple of years ago, a professional NFL football team, the New York Jets, were looking for a new quarterback (QB),
the key player responsible for throwing the ball and leading offensive plays.
There was a rumor they’d recruit Aaron Rodgers, a celebrated player and MVP, who was
leaving the Green Bay Packers and considering playing in NY.
Aaron Rodgers, now with the Jets, had a decision to make and sought clarity. Though I don’t know if he’s religious, he did something that suggests a prayerful mindset: he went on a “darkness retreat” in Oregon—four days of isolation in a small cabin, without electricity, Wi-Fi, or outside contact.
At the time, Rodgers hadn’t yet decided
where he would play football. This retreat was part of his process. Darkness
retreats, like this one, are often done to rest, reflect, or gain insight.
Afterward, Rodgers signed with the Jets.
However, in his first game, he injured his Achilles and sat out the rest of the
season. Even with all that preparation, challenges still arose.
[__02_]
I bring up this idea of DARKNESS and “being in the dark” in connection with the blind Bartimaeus of
the Gospel this Sunday.
Bartimaeus is blind. He cannot see.
This healing miracle reminds us also to turn to Jesus for his healing power and
also to recognize his holiness which we sometimes miss or we are blind to it.
It is very common for you to be told
by a biblical commentator or teacher or by a priest/deacon from the pulpit that
we can be physically “seeing” but spiritually “blind”.
I have been told this many times. What
does this statement mean?
Do I need contact lenses that only
Jesus the optometrist can provide? Should I sign up for a “darkness retreat”?
[__03_]
Reflecting on this, I would like to touch on the causes of physical
blindness and how they can be also a spiritual experience as well:
[
1st. Darkness. ]
[
2nd . Brightness ]
[
3rd . Woundedness OR Injury ]
[__04_]
1st. DARKNESS causes blindness. If you are in a place without
proper illumination or lighting, you may lack mobility and visibility.
For this reason, in anticipation of
hurricanes and other storms, we stock up on batteries and flashlights because
we cannot count on PSE&G or Con Edison to provide power.
We may further have to plan activities
or meals that do not require electricity. We also may choose less fancy forms
of entertainment such as listening to the radio (with battery power), since
Comcast and Verizon FIOS and internet may also be “down”
These are things we do to combat the darkness.
But, none of this makes the lights go back on.
In parallel, we may find ourselves
among people who live in the darkness in terms of their lack of charity, their
lack of faith, their dishonesty or their disdain for our religious faith.
We may find ourselves among people who
are angry or anxious and maybe discouraging us in our own practice of the
faith.
We may have tried to bring them the
light of the Gospel and been rejected.
In this regard, they are blind to
religion and maybe even anti-religion or anti-Christian.
Jesus does call us to imitate him as
the light of the world, but this does not mean others will plug into Him or to
us immediately.
We may have to endure the darkness of
rejection, even as a form of quiet martyrdom.
We are called to pray for and be good
examples to others even if we cannot make the lights go on everywhere.
Darkness is a cause of blindness.
[__05__]
At the other end of the visual spectrum, BRIGHTNESS is also a cause of
blindness.
This time of year, if you drive your
car at certain times of day when the sun is low in the sky, you may experience
a blinding and dangerous glare.
Paradoxically, the sun can be so bright that we cannot see anything.
As New Jersey state philosopher and
composer Bruce Springsteen wrote, we can “blinded by the light”.
I can also be blinded by own light.
You can be blinded by your own light.
Jesus warns of this blindness
vis-à-vis the scribes and Pharisees and anyone who claims to possess superior
knowledge of God or intellectual knowledge on its own.
Our faith does not grow by collecting
all the correct answers but by continuing to ask the right questions.
By questioning God, we can bring him
our petitions and difficulties while still acknowledging is sovereignty and
goodness.
It is good, in our lives, when we
experience trouble to reflect, gather, pray and seek the truth.
Sometimes, our pursuit of knowledge
and access to many forms of media, internet, images, encyclopedias, A.I., is
not really enlightening us with virtue but simply enabling our vices and
becoming occasions of sin.
The brightness can be blinding.
As a response, I am suggesting we all
need some regular retreats away from this brightness and into darkness and
peace.
And, I recommend this for some time
every night – especially for you – young people – to turn off your phones and
tablets and give them to your parents all night long.
If you need an alarm clock, get an
alarm clock. Do not rely on your phone which with its many pixels is blinding
you to your real path and human relationships and talking and listening.
Brightness is blinding.
[_06__] 3rd. Woundedness or injury can be blinding.
The 3rd form
of blindness can be woundedness or injury. It's not clear what has caused
Bartimaeus, physical blindness. I remember an experience several years ago
where my neck was bothering me, and I couldn't turn my neck as far as I wanted,
and in a sense, I was blinded in certain directions, in certain angles.
I needed to
go for physical therapy so that I could move my neck again.
There are
physical things that can prevent us from seeing, but there are also
woundedness, wounds or hurts that we experience that prevent us from seeing.
Have you ever
been hurt by somebody so deeply that you don't want to look the other person in
the eye? Or perhaps you hurt somebody and you can't look the other person in
the eye?
In a sense, it's a form of blindness, and at such times we need prayer, fasting, we're called to repent, to confess our sins so that we can begin again with a clean heart, with a new vision, and to turn back to Jesus As Bartimaeus does, to follow him on the way [__fin__]
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