Behold, I will
bring them from the north country
and gather them from the
farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind . . . (Jeremiah 31:8;
First Reading).
World Mission Sunday
Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland)
Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)
Gospel Mark 10:46-52 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.
World Mission Sunday is observed on the second-last Sunday in
October. This year's theme is We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard (Acts 4:20).
Bartimaeus, the blind beggar in
today's gospel, is an example of someone who cannot but speak about
what he has heard, though not seen. He proclaims to the
crowd who Jesus is: And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to
cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Clearly, Bartimaeus had heard from others about Jesus, individuals who lived by the words yet to be writtine in the Actos of the Apostles, We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard. Bartimaeus was a person on the fringes of society but with a determined streak in him. Though initially rebuffed by some who were following Jesus, he was encouraged by others when Jesus said Call him. They encouraged him: Take heart. Get up; he is calling you. Then Jesus showed Bartimaeus the exquisite courtesy of asking him, What do you want me to do for you? Jesus didn't say, I will restore your sight. He invited the blind man to articulate his need.
This tells us something about prayer of petition. God invites us to express our need, even though He knows what it is. And, as in a number of other healing stories where someone approached him Jesus said to Bartimaeus, Go your way; your faith has made you well. But St Mark indicates that he didn't 'go his way'. Rather, he followed him on the way.
In this incident Bartimaeus, without being aware of it, is a missionary. Having heard about Jesus from other 'anonymous missionaries', he cannot but speak about what he has seen and heard.
In 2005 I had an experience something like this, not from a blind beggar but from a 14-year-old girl whom I will call 'Gloria' - not her real name - who was the daughter of a blind beggar. I met her in a home for girls in Metro Manila run by the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family. Most of the 25 or 30 girls there had been living on the streets with their families.
I knew from the Sisters that Gloria suffered from asthma and that her family had been living on the streets. Later, after my conversation with her, they told me that her father was a blind beggar, like Bartimaeus.
I was totally unprepared for the question Gloria asked me expressing her need: How can I offer my life to God? It is a question that still stuns me more than 16 years later. Not the question itself but the fact that it came from a young girl with absolutely nothing in life.
I tried to tell her that in time God would show her what He wanted her to do with her whole life but that right now He was asking her to do everything she did out of love for others. When she was cleaning or setting the table or washing the dishes or sweeping the floor she could do this with love for the other girls and the Sisters. I was trying to share with her the 'Little Way' of St Thérèse of Lisieux as I understood it. These were ways in which she could offer her life to God right now.
I also told Gloria that by taking care of herself, of her body, she would be doing what God wanted her to do right now. 'Even in the bathroom?' she asked. 'Even in the bathroom', I responded.
I have told the story of Gloria in places as far from each other as the Cathedral of Mary Immaculate Parish in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada, to parishes in Melbourne, Australia, and Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, Canada. God granted me the grace to experience His presence in Gloria and in her question. The words We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard were spoken by St Peter and St John when they were brought before the religious authorities for healing a lame beggar in the name of Jesus at the gate of the Temple. Acts 4:13 shows how the religious authorities perceived the two apostles: Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
These men were hostile to the apostles but they saw the truth, though they rejected it. I too saw the reality of Gloria's background of utter poverty. And in my astonishment at her question I recognized that she had been with Jesus. Through her question she was sharing with me her faith in Jesus. And I, in trying to respond, was sharing my faith in Jesus with her.
I've no idea where Gloria is now. I know that a year or two after our conversation she went to live with relatives in one of the provinces near Manila. She is about 30 now. I often pray for her and invite you to do the same.
Fr Sean Brazil, a Columban who died on 8 October at the age of 89, tells a lovely story from his time in Korea starting at 2:43 in the video here.
Each of us can make the same request of Jesus that Bartimaeus did: Rabbi, let me recover my sight - and we might add 'my hearing'. I mean the grace to see and hear God's presence in the fabric of our daily life. This is the life that Jesus lived for thirty years before beginning his public mission. So many around us, like Gloria and the little girl in Korea, without being aware of it, are living the words of the Acts of the Apostles and the theme of this year's World Mission Sunday, We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard.
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