THE DIS-EASE OF BLINDNESS AND ITS CURE. (Homily for Friday of the 1st Week in Advent, Year C.)


Bible Study: Isaiah 29, 17 to 24. And Matthew 9, 27 to 31.


Of all the sicknesses that a man can suffer, none is as devastating as blindness. If all you can see is darkness, then things only exist in your imagination and you rely on the help of others to understand what is happening around you. However, as bad as physical blindness may be, spiritual blindness is even worse. And this is the sickness affecting modern man today. People are not able to relate with God because they are completely blind to his existence, blind to his commandments and blind to his intervention in our day to day lives.

Inability to enter into a solid faith-based relationship with God is what is responsible for the many evils that we see happening in our society and even among those of us who go to church. How? The Psalmist declares: “Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119, verse 105. This means failure to follow God’s word is our lives is like one walking without a lamp in a dark place. But how many of us pattern our lives according to God’s word? Do we read the Bible as a guide for daily living or simply as a book of entertainment? St. Peter having understood what it means for a Christian to be living in darkness declares “…You will do well to pay attention to this (God’s word), as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 2nd Peter 1 verse 19.

It is blindness on our part when we steal public funds and deprive others of enjoying that which is rightfully theirs. It is blindness when our dustbins are richer than the kitchen of others. It is blindness when we engage in pursuit of wealth without conscience, power without justice, pleasure without morality, fame without integrity, success without hard work. It is blindness when we live in a world of our own, totally insensitive to the sufferings of others and constantly turning the other way when we see people in need. It is blindness when we build our security on what we have thinking that without these material things, we cannot survive. It is blindness when we would rather disobey God’s commands than part with some material benefit or human favour.

It is blindness when we engage in prayer and still expect the worst to happen. Yes, it is blindness to worship God and yet lack the faith that he is capable doing anything significant in our lives. It is blindness when we fail to thank him even for the many good things that we enjoy assuming we were just lucky to have them or that it is because of our hard work and intelligence. It is blindness to believe more in human help than in divine help, blindness to assume that prayers only amount to nothing just because we do not see immediate and spectacular results as magicians make us believe. It is blindness if we are not able to engage God in daily meditation and hear directly from him, blindness if we can only depend on our pastors or on others to tell us what God is saying, blindness when we are not sure if God actually exist or assume that everything concerning Church is just waste of time.

Jesus has come to heal us of the disease of blindness. True to the words of Isaiah, Jesus is the one who has come to take away the veil from our eyes. He asked the two blind men in today’s Gospel passage, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” Jesus is asking us that same question today. Do you believe? If you really believe, then let your actions display your faith. If you really believe, then call out to him today “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” Get close to him and let him take charge of your inner life.

Let us Pray:
Lord Jesus, open my eyes that I may see. Amen.


Good morning. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. 

No comments:

Post a Comment