Br. Jack Crowley

Mark 10: 46-52

No matter how I am feeling, the stories of Jesus’ healings always grab my attention. Happy, mad, sad, or glad – stories of healing have a way of interrupting and refreshing whatever kind of day we are having. Stories of healing often leave us with a different perspective on life, often a softer, gentler, and more compassionate perspective.

We just heard the story of the blind beggar from Mark’s Gospel. My favorite detail from this story is when the blind man asks Jesus, “Let me see again.” It is that word “again” that always gets me. It implies that at one point in the past, this blind man was able to see. Although he is blind, presumably he still has memories of what it was like to see clearly.

Personally, when I am not doing well, I often feel like this blind man. I know I am not seeing things clearly, and I know at some point in the past I was able to. I often ask not necessarily for my problems to be solved, but at least for the ability to see them clearly.

The important thing to remember is that the blind man in this story had the courage to shout out to Jesus. He shouted out in the dark. He could only go on what he could hear and feel, yet he used those instincts to pull himself towards healing.

We live in a culture that does not necessarily pull us towards healing. Instead, we are pulled more towards polarization and conflict. We are often blinded by how much there is to take in – outrages, wars, calamities, scandals. Healing can often take a backseat when it feels like catastrophe is driving.

Personally, I need the healing of Jesus to grab my attention, to interrupt whatever anxiety-filled narrative I have in my head, to hold me tenderly but firmly and tell me to orient myself towards healing. To turn back to healing when I am tempted to turn my back to the world. To see, when I would rather keep my eyes down.

Whatever you have going on in your life right now, ask yourself what it would be like to take a posture of healing. To allow Jesus to mold you, to adjust you, to pivot you into a firm yet flexible position of healing. A posture of health and sanity, breathing in fresh air and good spirit, spreading whatever love we feel embering inside us.

Pray to allow God into your wounds on a painfully personal level. Pray with that healing grace we all know in our hearts. Pray with that spirit of love and compassion that unites us in a way beyond our understanding.