Wow! I had not realized it had been that long since I last posted. Time has really been flying by!
There are just a couple of small matters I would like to bring up today. In today's gospel (Lk 18:35-43), the blind man from Jericho asks in Greek, "that I may see up!" That is if one were to translate it literally. In this case, it obviously has the meaning of seeing again or anew, but the actual word used could also, in other contexts, mean "look up", as in the direction. I reflected on that this morning during my meditation. Over the years, we oftentimes let bad habits, or worries, or just simply human errors and our own little pat ways of doing things accumulate and eventually let them "blind" us from seeing reality, as it should be seen, i.e. through God's eyes. That is why we always need to "look again" at the gospel and "look up" at Jesus on the cross. In Verbum Domini, the newly released Apostolic Exhortation from Pope Benedict XVI to all the faithful, our Holy Father states, "The Word of God makes us change our concept of realism: the realist is the one who recognizes in the word of God the foundation of all things. This realism is particularly needed in our own time, when many things in which we trust for building our lives, things in which we are tempted to put our hopes, prove ephemeral." (10) That is why I have been using the readings of each day for my morning meditation over the past several months. This keeps me in contact with the Word of God and with the Church, since it is the Church which proposes these daily Scripture readings to us. How much Catholics would change if they were to stick to this practice daily! Because, whether we realize it or not, the Word of God, if taken seriously, has to effect a change in us over time. It is God's Word and we have his Word on that! That's better than any human guarantee we could ever have! "The novelty of biblical revelation consists in the fact that God becomes known through the dialogue which he desires to have with us." A dialogue requires two persons! God and you! Isn't it time we all take up the Scriptures and converse with God, united in and with the Church which His Son founded?
I would like to end this brief meditation with one of the options for opening prayer from Mass yesterday. I found it extraordinarily beautiful. Yes, I know. They are the same ones every year, but sometimes we have to have prayed with them for 36 years before recognizing the beauty of the prayer!
Father in heaven,
ever-living source of all that is good,
from the beginning of time you promised man salvation
through the future coming of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Help us to drink of his truth
and expand our hearts with the joy of his promises,
so that we may serve you in faith and in love
and know for ever the joy of your presence.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
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