Monday, October 29, 2012

CALL OUT

Reflecting on the Gospel reading from the 30th Sunday in ordinary time (Mark 10: 46-52), I was struck by the number of times the word call or calling was used in this short passage. Bartimaeus "called" out to Jesus to be cured of his blindness.  Jesus "called" Bartimaeus to come to him.
What blindness do we suffer from in our own life? Maybe we are not blind of sight but we have something else that we are blind to and like Bartimaeus we need to call out to Jesus to be cured. Call out in our prayer to receive sight.
Jesus calls out to us like he called out to Bartimaeus - he does not call the strong and powerful but the weak and the blind. Bartimaeus "Sprang up" and "threw aside his cloak." A cloak for a blind man  was probably his most valuable possession. Can we hear Jesus calling us? Are we  able to do the same, leave behind our possessions and follow Jesus? What is  holding us back?
After Bartimaeus was cured of his blindness, Jesus told him that he could go his way but instead, Bartimaeus freely chose to follow him. He was not forced to do so but I think did so out of love of Jesus and the desire to grow in that love. How can we respond to that same love?

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