Colleen O’Sullivan
Thus says
the Lord God: But a very little while,
and Lebanon shall be changed into an orchard, and the orchard be regarded as a
forest! On that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a book; And out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall
see. (Isaiah 29:17-18)
As Jesus
passed by, two blind men followed him, crying out, “Son of David, have pity on
us!” When he entered the house, the
blind men approached him and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do
this?” “Yes, Lord,” they said to him. Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it
be done for you according to your faith.”
And their eyes were opened. (Matthew
9: 27-30a)
Piety
Lord,
open the eyes and ears of my heart that I might see and hear you and all that
you love.
Study
As the December days grow shorter and darkness
creeps up on us earlier and earlier, we find ourselves longing for light. It is Advent, the season when we prepare our
hearts to welcome the Light of the World.
These weeks are a time for self-examination. Are we truly ready to receive the Lord,
whether today, on Christmas Day, or on the day he returns in glory?
In our first reading, the prophet Isaiah is
speaking to a discouraged people. He tells
them there is something wonderful to hope for. Our God says to expect great things. The time will come when the cedars of Lebanon
will become an orchard, and that orchard will then be transformed into a
forest! The deaf will be able to hear
and the blind will be able to see. God
will lift up the lowly and the poor. The
arrogant will disappear.
Most of my life, I’ve taken such promises very
literally. The day will come when
there will be no more disease, no more handicaps or physical disabilities. But maybe God is also talking about the deafness
and blindness that affect even those of us who can pass an audiologist’s test
with flying colors or who can read even the tiniest lines on an eye chart with
no problem.
If we’re honest with ourselves, we’re often deaf to
God’s word, or at least selectively hear only the parts of it we want to
hear. We’re sometimes deaf to the cry of
the poor, because we’re so consumed with the things we want (and tell ourselves
we need). We’re deaf to the pleas of
those around us for love and affection, because we’re so busy with our own
agendas.
We’re sometimes blind to the overwhelming love and
compassion God has for us, so we fail to love ourselves or take care of
ourselves as precious children of God.
We’re blind to all we have to be grateful for. We’re blind to the plight of the lowly right here
in Northern Virginia or in faraway places around the globe. We close our eyes to the suffering of the
tens of millions of homeless refugees wandering throughout the world in search
of a safe place to live.
Action
If we desire to be healed and transformed, there is
hope. Simply follow the example of the
two blind men in today’s Gospel reading.
Turn to Jesus and cry out to him, “Son of David, have mercy on me. Heal my deafness and my blindness.” If we believe that Jesus can do that for us,
we will find ourselves seeing and hearing things we never have before and being
moved to respond.
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