By Deborah Castellano Lubov
Faith and trusting in the Lord has the power to save us all…
Pope Francis offered this reassurance during his Oct 27 Sunday Angelus in St. Peter’s Square, as he recounted the day’s Gospel according to St Mark, which tells of Jesus healing Bartimaeus, a blind man.
Jesus hears him, sees him, and eventually, heals him, as He recognizes the man’s immense faith and willingness to leave anything he had behind to approach the Lord.
With this in mind, the Pope called on those gathered to join him in considering three aspects of their encounter: the cry, the faith, the journey.
Crying out
Firstly, the Pope observed that Bartimaeus’ cry is not just a plea for help, but rather an affirmation of himself.
As the blind man says, “I exist, look at me. I cannot see, Jesus. Do you see me?” the Pope noted that Jesus certainly did ‘see’ him.
Not only does Jesus “see” the begging man, but He “listens to him with both the ears of His body and those of His heart.”
Faith’s power to save us
The Pope then turned to the second point, faith, recalling how Jesus had told Bartimaeus, “Go, your faith has saved you.”
“Bartimaeus,” Pope Francis pointed out, “sees because he believes,” as he insisted that “Christ is the light of his eyes.”
Pope Francis asked, “How do I see a beggar? Do I ignore him? Do I look upon him as Jesus does?””
Offers us direction
Finally, the Pope turned to the third point of journey, acknowledging that, once healed, Bartimaeus “followed Jesus along the road.”
“But each one of us is Bartimeaus,” Pope Francis said, “blind inside, who follow Jesus once we draw near to Him.”
More than that, the Pope said, “When you draw near to a poor person and make them feel close to you, it is Jesus who approaches you in the person of that poor man or woman… The one who receives the most from almsgiving is the giver, because he allows himself to be looked upon by the eyes of the Lord.”
Pope Francis concluded his reflection with a prayer to Mary, “the dawn of our salvation … to guard our journey in the light of Christ.”
Vatican News staff reporters contributed to this report.– Vatican News
