Monday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
The story of the blind man in Luke’s Gospel is slightly different than Mark’s Gospel. Mark includes the blind beggar’s name, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus. But Luke omits the name of the blind man and his father. The blind beggar in Mark said to Jesus, “Master (rabbouni), let me receive my sight.” But in Luke, the blind beggar said, “Lord, let me receive my sight.” So, in Luke's Gospel, the beggar moved from calling Jesus Son of David to "Lord," which is a higher title. Regardless of the differences in the details of the story, both Mark and Luke portray the blind beggar like the children that were brought to Jesus. Like those children, the blind beggar is helpless. But like Jesus receives the children, He receives the blind beggar even though some people try to prevent him from approaching Jesus.
A few years ago, I visited my Jesuit mentor, an elderly Jesuit who was near the end of his life. Initially, he was hospitalized because his intestines were wrapped around each other, causing a blockage that was potentially dangerous. He was scheduled for surgery and had a small part of his intestine removed. While the surgery was successful, the post-surgery recovery was difficult because his digestive system had not begun to function properly, and he had to be re-admitted to the hospital. When I visited him at the infirmary, he said, “I can’t see anything…. I feel helpless.” For some reason, the surgery or the post-surgery recovery seemed to have affected his eyesight.
The blind beggar in Luke's Gospel also feels helpless. When he is feeling helpless, the only thing that he can do is to pray. When the blind beggar cries out, saying, "Son of David, have mercy on me," his request is more a prayer than the crying out of a common beggar on the street. He continues his prayers when he cries out, Lord Kyrie. There is a time in this life when we feel helpless; economic situation, health condition, broken relationship, or many other reasons make us feel helpless. But at this moment of helplessness, we must not forget the power of prayers; oftentimes, the only thing we can do is pray like the blind beggar.