Homily for Friday of the 1st Week of Advent
In our Gospel this morning, two blind men approach Jesus and ask Him to heal them. They wholeheartedly believed that Jesus was the one who could bring them to freedom from the literal darkness that they had lived for such a long time. Because of their faith and the courage they had to bring their petition to the Lord, they were saved from that blindness. And, they became another proof, another example of the authority and power of Jesus – but also of His deep compassion for those who were seen as the least.
It was God who brought these two men out of the darkness and back into the light. He was the one who restored hope to them and made them whole again. He was the one who brought them liberation.
But the message of the Gospel isn’t to just recount the story of how Jesus healed two blind men. The message is that Jesus wants to do the very same thing for all of us. Just as He did with these two men, Jesus wants to bring each of us to freedom from the darkness that we live. He wants to bring us to healing from our blindness – the darkness and the blindness of sin.
That is what we are being invited to reflect on this Advent. He is a God who seeks to show us love, compassion, and mercy. He is the one who wants to give us a new sense of hope, to be the light that pierces through the darkness of despair and evil that often surround us. He is the one whom we are expecting, the source of our rejoicing, the source of our strength, the source of life.
Today, may we approach Him with faith, inviting Him more deeply into our hearts, and asking Him to reveal to us those areas of blindness in our lives, those sins that hold us in darkness. May we ask Him for the courage to bring those things to Him and to ask for the healing that we so desperately need. He wants to bring us to the light; He wants to give us freedom. Let’s take that step of faith today, and ask the Lord: “Son of David, have pity on us.”
Photo: Orkhan Farmanli on Unsplash. Used under Unsplash License.
Fr. Tom Pringle 