HAVE PATIENCE – GRADUAL PROCESS
Today’s gospel speaks of the gradual restoration of the sight of a blind man at Bethsaida. Jesus first led the blind man out of the village while holding his hand. Transformation requires face-to-face interaction. The place of personal encounter that never be underestimated in our Christian faith.
Again, the man’s restoration was gradual. Oftentimes, healing is a gradual process and so we have to be patient. We need faith and hope in order to continue to trust God’s goodness in our lives.
This healing process also implies that genuine conversion is a gradual process. Through the daily entrance of God’s word into our souls the penitent gradually puts away the habits of sins and puts on the light of Christ. God gradually heals our spiritual illnesses of arrogance, sensuality, rage, envy, and jealousy.
The theme of patience also runs through the first reading. In it we saw the gradual subsiding of the flood and disembarking of Noah and his household. Like Noah we must learn to be patient with the Lord’s narrative and power. Transformation is a process but oftentimes we are not patient.
The first action of Noah after this experience was to build an altar to the Lord (Gen.8:20). Noah acknowledged that he has received his life and that of the animals as a gift of God’s mercy alone. Beloved, our life and the life of all living things are gift from the Lord. Therefore, let us be patient with the Lord in our daily experiences.
LET US PRAY
O God, who teach us that you abide in hearts that are just, true and patient, grant that we may be so fashioned by your grace as to become a dwelling pleasing to you. Amen.
