Fast from Blindness - Feast on Seeing

Tending Our Vision 

Scripture
Mark 8:22-26
Jesus came to Bethsaida, and some people brought to him a blind person whom they begged him to touch.  He took the blind person and led him outside the village.  Then putting spittle on his eyes and laying his hands on him, he asked, “Can you see anything?”  The man, who was beginning to see, replied, “I can see people; they look like trees to me, but they are walking about.”  Then Jesus laid his hands on the man’s eyes again and he saw clearly; he could see everything plainly and distinctly.  And Jesus sent him home.
 
Luke 18: 35-43
As Jesus drew near to Jericho there was a blind person sitting at the side of the road begging.  When he heard the crowd going past he asked what it was all about, and they told him that Jesus the Nazarene was passing by.  So he called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.”  The people in front scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he shouted all the louder, “Son of David, have pity on me.”  Jesus stopped and ordered them to bring the man to him, and when he came up, asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
 
“Sir,” he replied, “let me see again.”  Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight.  Your faith has saved you.”  Instantly his sight returned and he followed Jesus, praising God, and all who saw it gave praise to God for what had happened.
 
John 1:39
Jesus said, “Come and see.” 

Ravenna mosaic

---

A Wisdom Tale    (from Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart)
 A man whose axe was missing suspected his neighbor’s son.  The boy walked like a thief, looked like a thief, and spoke like a thief.  But the man found his axe while he was digging in the valley, and the next time he saw his neighbor’s son, the boy walked, looked, and spoke like any other child.

---

Perspective reveals what is before our eyes, including what we haven’t been able to see because we didn’t have the “vision” to experience what was there.
(Robert Wicks, “Snow Falling on Snow”)

There is so much in life that keeps us blind to the wonder around us: fears, prejudices, unhealed anger and hurt, cultural biases, ignorance, to name only a few.  It is no wonder that so many of Jesus’ healings centered around restoring sight.  The scriptures remind us that healing is a gradual process, and that we must truly WANT to see, if our blindness is to be healed.

---

For your Reflection
1. As you begin this prayer time, recall the people in your life who have brought you to new insight and vision.  Invite them to accompany you during these moments.
 
2. What are the things that limit your vision, that blind you to new or different ways of seeing and perceiving?  Pray these questions.
 
3. Imagine Jesus approaching you and saying: “What do you want me to do for you?”  How do you respond? 

---

Copyright © 2018 by Kathleen McNany, OSB
Benedictine Sisters of Baltimore, MD.