Jeremiah 31:7-9, Hebrews 5:1-6, Psalm 126:1-6, Mark 10:46-52
Jeremiah 31:7-9
My Beloved, in You all of us are saved. This was our Father's plan that all nations come to the knowledge of truth that You are Lord. God's plan of salvation was born of His great love for us poor, weak sinful creatures. No one would have questioned Him had He swept us off the face of the earth and started over. Yes, He did start over when He sent You into the world to be the means by which all of us now have the opportunity of entering the Kingdom and taking the place that has been prepared for us. We have the love of the Father made visible in You and we have the power of Your Holy Spirit that helps us walk the way of righteousness.
In the Old Testament a High Priest was chosen from among men. Being weak and sinful as all men are, when he offered sacrifices for sin, he offered them for himself as well as for the people.
To be a priest is a call, a vocation. It is God's prerogative to make the invitation and those who are called must accept it in humility and obedience. Even You Beloved were asked by the Father to take upon Yourself this dignity of being our High Priest forever. You said yes and You took upon Yourself our human flesh and entered into our humanity but unlike us You were sinless therefore, You could make perfect atonement and expiation for our sins. You are the eternal Priest, the Altar and the Victim perfectly pleasing and acceptable to the Father.
My Beloved, we are a joyful people, a people filled with praise for all the marvels that God has done for us through You. We are redeemed, we have been brought back from exile where we were banished because of our offences but God took pity on His people, His creatures and He sent You into the world. Now He looks at You and sees us who are grafted on to You. We are nourished by Your own Body and we are made holy and acceptable to the Father once more because of what You have done for us.
My Beloved, Bartimaeus heard of You. He did not stop there he had a need and he believed what he heard to be true so he did something about it. He placed himself in a situation where he was certain to encounter You. He know that You had to pass that way in order to reach Jerusalem. His sensitive sense of hearing picked by the sound of the crowd coming his way, here was his opportunity and no one was going to deny him his chance to be saved. As soon as the crowd drew near he shouted himself hoarse and would not let anyone hush him. You knew all the time of his presence and that You would restore his sight that day. You heard his voice. You always do. You stopped and You called. Bartimaeus needed no second invitation leaving behind anything that could be an impediment to him, he jumped up and came to You. He still needed to ask though what it was that he wanted You to do for him so that there could be no doubt in his mind that this was what he truly desired. "Master," he said without a moments hesitation, "I want to see again." The poor man did have sight once and he know what it meant to have vision and then lose it.
Sin does that to us my Beloved, we lose our sight and when we realise what we have lost, our soul longs to re-capture the lost vision that comes from grace. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation You restore us to sight every time we come to You in repentance and we can begin anew to follow You on the way to heaven.
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