THE WORD BECAM FLESH

Friday of the First Week of Advent, 2022 

Isa 29:17-24

Ps 27

Matt 9:27-31

Pity us

I am struck by the persistence of the two blind men in this morning’s gospel reading (Mt 9:27-31). They don’t just come up to Jesus and ask him to heal them. Rather, while Jesus is walking along they follow him shouting, ‘Take pity on us, Son of David’. They kept shouting until Jesus reached the house to which he was going, at which point Jesus turned to them and said, ‘Do you believe I can do this?’ 

Their shout was, of course, a prayer of petition, an expression of their faith in Jesus. Their answer to Jesus’ question was another expression of their faith, ‘Sir, we do’ The image of the two blind men making their prayer of faith continues as Jesus walks along might speak to us of our calling to keep on praying out of our faith. Like the two blind men, we very often pray out of our need. Thankfully, most of us have the gift of sight, but we are all needy in other ways. There can be areas of blindness in our lives that we need to be healed of; we all struggle with weakness and disability of one kind or another. There are many ways in which we are broken and vulnerable. The example of the two blind men encourages us to keep turning to the Lord in prayer, even when he appears not to be listening to us. Our prayer of faith will not ultimately go unanswered.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, free me from doubt and unbelief that I may approach you confidently and pray boldly with expectant faith. Amen.

+Remain blessed