It is a beautiful story about the healing of a blind man. The first time I read it, I thought to myself, “This is not for us because we are not physically blind. No one in our community is.” But when I read it carefully and looked around me, I realized that, while we are not physically blind, we are spiritually blind.
We are blind because we don’t see the hand of God in our lives. God is doing so many good things in our community—blessing us daily with life, children, new people, and jobs. Yet we don’t see the treasure we have in the Eucharist, which we celebrate on Wednesdays and Fridays with very few attendees. We are blind because we don’t see people as God sees them. We judge others based on appearance, work, and possessions. We fail to see them as they truly are—the image of God in each person. This makes me ask myself: “Do we see everyone we meet as Jesus does, or do we ignore some? Who is truly blind?”
In today’s gospel, we hear the story of Bartimaeus, the blind man who sat by the roadside begging. When he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” When Jesus saw him, He stopped everything to give him His full attention, showing how important Bartimaeus was to Him. I have no doubt that every human being matters deeply to Jesus. Then Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus replied, “I want to see.” Jesus cured him, and after being healed, Bartimaeus followed Him.
We can learn a lot from today’s gospel. On one hand, we must recognize and accept that we are blind. Our world is blind. Like Bartimaeus, we need to beg Jesus to open our eyes so we can see all people as He does. On the other hand, today’s gospel challenges us to pay attention to the forgotten, the hungry, those crying out for justice, and those suffering whom the world often overlooks—refugees, broken families, and victims of tragedy who rarely make the news. The media blinds us, presenting superstars in sports, music, and entertainment, while ignoring those on the margins.
Our blindness needs to be healed. We want to see, Lord. We want to see Your face in each person we encounter. This is today’s message. Let us ask God to open our eyes, so that we can see people as He sees them. This should be our prayer for this week.
