Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 20, 2019
When Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethsaida,
people brought to him a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.
He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.
Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on the man and asked,
“Do you see anything?”
Looking up the man replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.”
Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second time and he saw clearly;
his sight was restored and he could see everything distinctly.
Then he sent him home and said, “Do not even go into the village.”
Anyone who has had a vision exam is familiar with being presented with a variety of lenses to find the best prescription. With perseverance by the doctor and honest responses, many of us enjoy improved vision. So it is in today’s Gospel reading. A man’s friends bring him to Jesus so that he can regain his sight. In two stages, the man is able to see clearly.
Might there be more than physical blindness being healed in this account? In Matthew 11, Jesus says, “Woe to you, Bethsaida!” Despite many of Jesus’ miracles taking place there, including this one, few in the village repented of their sins and placed their faith in Jesus. Thus, Jesus takes the man out of Bethsaida, the place enabling his spiritual blindness, in order that this spiritual blindness can also be healed.
The man’s friends play an important role, as his faith is not strong enough for him to seek out Jesus alone. Jesus perseveres in healing the man, in spite of his unsure faith. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians that we too first “see in a mirror dimly.” Like us, the blind man needs to be convinced that there really is something to Jesus.
It seems that this passage has three key elements: our friends, Jesus, and us. Which of our friends is leading us to Jesus? Are we reluctant to follow? Do we have a friend whom we are called to lead to Jesus? Are we reluctant to lead? With patience and perseverance, Jesus continues to offer each of us forgiveness and true spiritual healing, and then calls us to follow him without turning back. May we support each other as we seek to trust in Jesus and have our eyes and souls focused clearly on him.
Prayer
Christ Jesus, you touched the eyes of the blind man twice before he was fully cured. Grant us confidence in your persistence in the face of enduring troubles or sin in our lives. Help us to know that you never leave us, that you will continue to heal us, that your love is greater than our weakness. Grant us faith that we will one day see your love for us clearly and distinctly. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Francisco and Jacinta Marto were siblings who lived near Fatima, Portugal, and received the famous visions of Our Lady there.
On May 13, 1917, they were tending sheep with their cousin, Lucia Santos, when they received the first of six visions of Mary. Francisco was 9 years old, and Jacinta was 7, at the time of the apparition.
Mary gave the children three secrets, studied and approved by the Church, in which she spoke of the coming world war and of the conversion of Russia. Reports of the apparition drew controversy and attention world-wide, and Fatima became a shrine and pilgrimage site.
The children were instructed to pray for the conversion of sinners, and after the visions they all took on mortifications such as fasting and wearing tight cords around their waists.
Francisco was thoughtful and quiet and preferred to pray alone. Jacinta was affectionate and had a sweet singing voice. In 1918, the two were struck with the Spanish Flu epidemic that soon took their lives. During their months of illness, they insisted on walking to church for Mass and Eucharistic devotions. They would also kneel and pray for hours with their heads on the ground, according to instructions they received in their vision.
Francisco declined hospital treatment and died on April 4, 1919, at the age of 10. Jacinta was taken several places for treatment, including a surgery without anesthesia.
Jacinta devoted the pain of her illness to the conversion of sinners, and she finally died on this date in 1920.
They are both buried at the Our Lady of Fatima Basilica in Portugal and were canonized in 2017. (When they were beatified in 2000, Jacinta was the youngest child to be beatified who was not martyred.)
Statues of Francisco and Jacinta kneeling before Our Lady of Fatima stand in front of what used to be the Fatima Retreat House across the lake from campus. The retreat house is now a residence for Holy Cross religious.
To learn even more about Saints Francisco and Jacinta Marto, watch this video lecture from the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.
Saints Francisco and Jacinta Marto, you saw Mary at Fatima and prayed for our conversion—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Sts. Francisco and Jacinta Marto is in the public domain. Last accessed December 6, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.
