December 4/First Friday of Advent
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.” ~ Mt 9.28-29
When we had our house on the market a few years ago, I dreaded getting the feedback from the realtor after a showing. “They thought the second floor was choppy.” “The kitchen was too small.” “They didn’t like the location of the library.” All these flaws were present in the house when we had bought it, of course, but I had long since ceased to see them. Indeed, once we had settled in, we began to the choppy second floor and the small kitchen from the inside, with eyes of love. It was not a house, but a home, a home that belonged to us. As V.S. Naipaul observed of the eponymous hero and his family in A House for Mr. Biswas, it was astonishing “how quickly they had accommodated themselves to every peculiarity and awkwardness of the house. And once that had happened their eyes ceased to be critical, and the house became simply their house.” Taking up the commitment to love changes the way we see people, and things, and truth itself. The religious establishment of Jesus’ time cast a critical eye upon his ministry, perennially picking holes and finding fault. But the two blind men on the margins “saw” Christ with the eyes of love. They chose to believe in his healing power, and to walk alongside him in faith, rather than approach him analytically from the outside. “Yes, Lord,” they reply, when Jesus questions whether they believe he can heal them. Turning the age-old adage on its head, they demonstrate that, in fact, believing is seeing. If we, too, walk with Jesus and trust him as the blind men did, we, too, will receive his healing touch.
Merciful God, strengthen my resolve when I am tempted to retreat into the safety of doubt, and grant me the courage to profess my faith. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120420.cfm
To hear the choir of Norwich Cathedral sing “Thine Arm, O Lord, in Days of Old,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZmideCR1qk
