Thursday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Blind Bartimaeus woke up day after day after day, and did not see the light of the sun. He did not see his family, his friends, his city of Jericho, the world around him. Yet, he longed for such vision. Bartimaeus longed for it so much that he did not care what anyone thought of him as he cried out again and again into the crowds (which for him were only darkness) to the Lord (who for him was only a name): “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” (Mark 10:47, 48)
For those who see, we can only grasp the smallest sliver of what Bartimaeus’ desire must have been. Yet, we know desire for what is missing. If we missed a meal, we know the desire for food. If it is an extremely hot day, we know the desire for a drink of water. We know the needs and hence the desires of the body. Yet, just as Jesus poses the question to Bartimaeus who answers from his keen awareness of the light missing to his eyes, so too Jesus asks us about the heart, about the soul: “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51)
Saint Peter, seeing that certain Christians were so bereft of spiritual maturity, commands them, “like new born infants, long for pure spiritual milk so that through it you may grow into salvation.” (1 Peter 2:2) Today in the silence that I set aside for the Lord, I may do well to ask, ‘Lord, where does my spiritual life need to grow, to develop, to mature?’ Let us listen to what the Lord says, so that we may have our own desire kindled and an answer ready when He asks, “What do you want me to do for you?”