Daily Gospel Reflection
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May 28, 2026
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd,
Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the roadside begging.
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say,
“Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.”
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called the blind man, saying to him,
“Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.”
He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.”
Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.”
Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way.
Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner. The full readings of the day from the Lectionary are available here.
I recently watched a vocational discernment video with two Sisters of Life. They were discussing their initial yes to God’s will. As freeing as giving one’s life entirely over to God can be, to be plunged into an unknown future where you are not in control but are fully following what God asks of you can also be extremely frightening.
As humans, we strive for control and for the ability to see and plan everything about our futures, and our society celebrates being self-reliant and decisive in our plans. Many are often rebuked for the counter-cultural letting go of the material world to think about their presence in the next life and the eternal city, as this is seen as blindly being led into the dark by a distant God.
However, we as members of our society, like Bartimaeus in today’s gospel, are often the blind ones when regarding our path of life. How much do we really know or see about the future? And further, we often choose this blindness when we dismiss God’s call and place our own plans as more important.
Despite initial hesitation in her vocation, one of the Sisters of Life asked God to place a deep love for and desire to follow God’s will on her heart so that she could let go of the self-given blindness and accept a glorified vision for her future. Bartimaeus’ example in today’s gospel shows that it is all right to be unsure of what you want as long as your heart and eyes remain open to taking courage and standing up to heed the call. Only then will God heal our blindness by giving us new eyes to see our world and our futures as God does. May we always orient our sight with God’s, so that our whole life can be a gift to God’s will and the church.
Prayer
Lord, like Bartimaeus, we have sat in our own darkness, waiting, longing, unsure if our voices reach you. Teach us his courage; to call out even when the world tells us to be silent, to throw aside whatever holds us back, and to answer honestly when you ask, “What do you want me to do for you?” Open our eyes, Lord. And when you do, may we follow you without looking back. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Bernard of Montjoux was a saint of great hospitality who not only welcomed travelers crossing the Alps to visit Rome and the Holy Land, but in many cases, he saved their lives.
He was born in Italy in the tenth century, and after his ordination to the priesthood, he was appointed to a position that entailed caring for small village communities in a region of the Alps. This area included two of the most accessible passes through the mountains that were used by pilgrims traveling from northern Europe to Rome and the Holy Land.
The pilgrims traveling through the Alps through these passes faced many dangers. The temperatures in the mountains could easily freeze a person, and some did not expect to confront the snow that they had to trudge through in higher elevations, not to mention the threat of avalanches. In addition, robbers would frequently take advantage of the isolation and narrow pathways to ambush travelers and take their resources and gear.
Bernard assembled a patrol of civilians and cleared the mountain passes of these robbers. He also established two hospices at the summits of both passes, which welcomed travelers of any background and continue to do so today. The group of people who joined Bernard to staff the hospices fell into a regular community life together, which was formalized into a monastery. That community still exists to serve travelers in that region.
The famous large-breed rescue dogs that are named after St. Bernard were first used to rescue stranded travelers by the hospice communities founded by the saint. St. Bernard is the patron Saint of mountain climbers and skiers.
St. Bernard spent 42 years as a priest serving the people of this region. In addition to serving travelers, he founded schools and reformed parishes throughout the area. He lived to be 85 years old and died on this date in 1081.
St. Bernard of Montjoux, you saved pilgrims in the Alps from avalanches and robbers—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Bernard of Montjoux is in the public domain/available for use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Last accessed March 11, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
