First reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah Jer 31:7-9
Thus says the LORD: Shout with joy for Jacob, exult at the head of the nations; proclaim your praise and say: The LORD has delivered his people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them back from the land of the north; I will gather them from the ends of the world, with the blind and the lame in their midst, the mothers and those with child; they shall return as an immense throng. They departed in tears, but I will console them and guide them; I will lead them to brooks of water, on a level road, so that none shall stumble. For I am a father to Israel, Ephraim is my first-born.
Psalms, 126 When Yahweh brought back Zion's captives we lived in a dream;
then our mouths filled with laughter, and our lips with song. Then the nations kept saying, 'What great deeds Yahweh has done for them!'
Yes, Yahweh did great deeds for us, and we were overjoyed.
Bring back, Yahweh, our people from captivity like torrents in the Negeb!
Those who sow in tears sing as they reap.
He went off, went off weeping, carrying the seed. He comes back, comes back singing, bringing in his sheaves.
Second reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Hebrews Heb 5:1-6
Brothers and sisters: Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. No one takes this honor upon himself but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. In the same way, it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest, but rather the one who said to him: You are my son: this day I have begotten you; just as he says in another place: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
GOSPEL From the Gospel according to Mark Mk 10:46-52
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, son of David, have pity on me." And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more, "Son of David, have pity on me." Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you." He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see." Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you." Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.
The Gospel of today’s Liturgy tells of Jesus who, when leaving Jericho, restores the sight of Bartimaeus, a blind man begging by the roadside ( Mk 10:46-52). It is an important encounter, the last one before the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem for the Passover. Bartimaeus had lost his sight, but not his voice! Indeed, when he heard that Jesus was about to pass by, he begins to cry out: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (v. 47). And he shouts and shouts. Annoyed by his shouting, the disciples and the crowd rebuke him to make him be quiet. But he shouts even louder: “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (v. 48). Jesus hears, and immediately stops. God always listens to the cry of the poor and is not at all disturbed by Bartimaeus’ voice; rather, he realises it is full of faith, a faith that is not afraid to insist, to knock on the door of God’s heart, despite not being understood and being reproached. And here lies the root of the miracle. Indeed, Jesus says to him: “Your faith has made you well” (v. 52).
Bartimaeus’ faith is evident from his prayer. It is not a timid and standard prayer. First and foremost, he calls the Lord “Son of David”: that is, he acknowledges Jesus as the Messiah, the King who would come into the world. Then he calls Him by name, confidently; “Jesus”. He is not afraid of Him, he does not stay at a distance. And thus, from the heart, he shouts out his entire drama to God, his friend: “Have mercy on me”! Just that prayer: “Have mercy on me”! He does not ask for some loose change as he does with passers-by. No. He asks for everything from the One who can do everything. He asks people for loose change; he asks everything from Jesus who can do everything. “Have mercy on me, have mercy on all that I am”. He does not ask for a grace, but presents himself: he asks for mercy on his person, on his life. It is not a small request, but it is very beautiful because it is a cry for mercy, that is, compassion, God’s mercy, his tenderness.
Bartimaeus does not use many words. He says what is essential and entrusts himself to God’s love which can make his life flourish again by doing what is humanly impossible. This is why he does not ask the Lord for alms, but makes everything be seen — his blindness and his suffering which was far more than not being able to see. His blindness was the tip of the iceberg ; but there must have been wounds, humiliations, broken dreams, mistakes, remorse in his heart. He prayed with his heart. And what about us? When we ask for God’s grace, do we also include in our prayer our own history, our wounds, our humiliations, our broken dreams, our mistakes and our regrets?
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” Let us, too, recite this prayer today. Let us repeat it and ask ourselves: “What is my prayer like”? Let each of us ask ourselves: “What is my prayer like”? Is it courageous, does it contain the good insistence of Bartimaeus, does it know how to “take hold” of the Lord as he passes, or is it rather content with making a formal greeting every now and then, when I remember? Those lukewarm prayers that do not help at all. Furthermore, is my prayer “substantial”, does it bare my heart before the Lord? Do I take my story and life experience to him? Or is it anaemic, superficial, made up of rituals, without feeling and without heart? When faith is alive, prayer is heartfelt: it does not beg for spare change, it is not reduced to the needs of the moment. We must ask everything of Jesus, who can do everything. Do not forget this. We must ask everything of Jesus, with my insistence before Him. He cannot wait to pour out his grace and joy into our hearts; but unfortunately, it is we who keep our distance, through timidness, laziness or unbelief.
-->Many of us, when we pray, do not believe that the Lord can work miracles. I am reminded of the story — which I have seen — of the father who was told by the doctors that his nine-year-old daughter would not survive the night; she was in hospital. And he took a bus and travelled 70 kilometres to the Shrine of Our Lady. It was closed and, clinging to the gate, he spent the whole night praying: “Lord, save her! Lord, give her life”! He prayed to Our Lady all night long, crying out to God, crying out from his heart. Then in the morning, when he returned to the hospital, he found his wife weeping. And he thought: “She is dead”. And his wife said: “No one understands, no one understands, the doctors say it’s a strange thing, she seems to have healed”. The cry of that man who asked for everything was heard by the Lord who had given him everything. This is not a story: I saw this myself in the other diocese. Do we have this courage in prayer? Let us ask everything to the One who can give us everything, like Bartimaeus, who was a great teacher, a great teacher of prayer. May Bartimaeus, with his genuine, insistent and courageous faith, be an example for us. And may Our Lady, the prayerful Virgin, teach us to turn to God with all our heart, confident that he listens attentively to every prayer.
FAUSTI Jesus is the Light of the world (Jn 8:12), the Son of David who exercises His kingship by showing Mercy, He is the Lord who gives sight to the blind (Ps 146:8). The invocation of His Name is our salvation. And it saves us because it is all Mercy addressed to our misery. The disciple becomes a disciple through the calling of the Name of Jesus and request for His Mercy. This heals his blindness and he can contemplate in the Crucified One what the eye has seen nor hear heard, nor ever enter the heart of man, but which God has prepared for those who love Him. He is enlightened: finally seeing reality. "What do you want Me do for you? asks Jesus to the blind man. It is the same question that the Gospel asks of each of us, who, like him, finds himself blind, in a position of sitting and out of the way. This is the decisive question of the Gospel. It is only if I am blind, and I know it, that I know what I want, and I ask Him. And we make our own the answer of the blind man: "Jesus have mercy on me. "Rabboni," Rabboni, let me see now! " Finally, Jesus hears the request He has always waited for. Only in this way can we obtain the sight: we have faith that saves, and we follow Him on His way. Seeing the Lord is the life of man. Born for this reason, he is always agitated until he contemplates the Face. Jesus on the Cross will tear the veil of the temple and fully will reveal God on earth. The purpose of all the catechesis of Jesus to his disciples and of Mark to his reader is to bring here, where the last miracle is done, the definitive one: the healing of blindness. This miracle is a baptismal illumination that brings us into being, out of darkness into the light. It is the gift of the Spirit to see what Jesus is doing in Jerusalem and to examine the depths of God in the Crucified One. In the Gospel of Mark, this blind man is the only one - after the demons - but in a very different way - who calls Jesus by His Name. He has a personal relationship of knowledge and familiarity with him. To call Jesus is to pronounce His Name, the only one in which there is salvation. This blind man is a mirror for each of us. Listening, he has heard God's promise, and he can desire and ask what God wants to give us. The invocation of Jesus' Name makes him jump on his feet, throw his cloak, go to Him, pray to Him and get his sight, so that he can follow Him on his way.
From this story, faith is ear to hear, mouth to invoke, feet to come to Him, hands to throw the cloak and eyes to see and follow Him. Its principle is the recognized misery, its means are the invocation of Mercy, its accomplishment is the illumination that shows the Lord. Jesus is the Light of the world (Jn 8:12), the Son of David who exercises his kingdom with mercy, the Lord who gives sight to the blind (Ps 146:8). The invocation of His Name is our salvation. And He saves us because He is the Mercy of our misery. The disciple is begotten as such by the invocation of the Name of Jesus and His Mercy. Thus he heals from his blindness and can contemplate in the Crucified One what the eye has never seen, nor the ear has ever listened, nor has it ever entered the hearts of men and what God has prepared for those who love Him... He is enlightened: he finally sees reality.
“OF YOU MY HEART HAS SAID, 'SEEK HIS FACE. YOUR FACE, O LORD, I SEEK; HIDE NOT YOUR FACE FROM ME” (PSALM 27:8-9) https://salmiognigiorno.blogspot.com/2024/08/da-salmo-27-b-c.html
First reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah
RispondiEliminaJer 31:7-9
Thus says the LORD:
Shout with joy for Jacob,
exult at the head of the nations;
proclaim your praise and say:
The LORD has delivered his people,
the remnant of Israel.
Behold, I will bring them back
from the land of the north;
I will gather them from the ends of the world,
with the blind and the lame in their midst,
the mothers and those with child;
they shall return as an immense throng.
They departed in tears,
but I will console them and guide them;
I will lead them to brooks of water,
on a level road, so that none shall stumble.
For I am a father to Israel,
Ephraim is my first-born.
Psalms, 126
When Yahweh brought back Zion's captives we lived in a dream;
then our mouths filled with laughter, and our lips with song. Then the nations kept saying, 'What great deeds Yahweh has done for them!'
Yes, Yahweh did great deeds for us, and we were overjoyed.
Bring back, Yahweh, our people from captivity like torrents in the Negeb!
Those who sow in tears sing as they reap.
He went off, went off weeping, carrying the seed. He comes back, comes back singing, bringing in his sheaves.
Second reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Hebrews
Heb 5:1-6
Brothers and sisters:
Every high priest is taken from among men
and made their representative before God,
to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring,
for he himself is beset by weakness
and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself
as well as for the people.
No one takes this honor upon himself
but only when called by God,
just as Aaron was.
In the same way,
it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest,
but rather the one who said to him:
You are my son:
this day I have begotten you;
just as he says in another place:
You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.
GOSPEL
From the Gospel according to Mark
Mk 10:46-52
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd,
Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the roadside begging.
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say,
"Jesus, son of David, have pity on me."
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he kept calling out all the more,
"Son of David, have pity on me."
Jesus stopped and said, "Call him."
So they called the blind man, saying to him,
"Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you."
He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?"
The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see."
Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you."
Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way.
POPE FRANCIS
RispondiEliminaANGELUS 24 October 2021
Dear brothers and sisters, buongiorno!
The Gospel of today’s Liturgy tells of Jesus who, when leaving Jericho, restores the sight of Bartimaeus, a blind man begging by the roadside ( Mk 10:46-52). It is an important encounter, the last one before the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem for the Passover. Bartimaeus had lost his sight, but not his voice! Indeed, when he heard that Jesus was about to pass by, he begins to cry out: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (v. 47). And he shouts and shouts. Annoyed by his shouting, the disciples and the crowd rebuke him to make him be quiet. But he shouts even louder: “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (v. 48). Jesus hears, and immediately stops. God always listens to the cry of the poor and is not at all disturbed by Bartimaeus’ voice; rather, he realises it is full of faith, a faith that is not afraid to insist, to knock on the door of God’s heart, despite not being understood and being reproached. And here lies the root of the miracle. Indeed, Jesus says to him: “Your faith has made you well” (v. 52).
Bartimaeus’ faith is evident from his prayer. It is not a timid and standard prayer. First and foremost, he calls the Lord “Son of David”: that is, he acknowledges Jesus as the Messiah, the King who would come into the world. Then he calls Him by name, confidently; “Jesus”. He is not afraid of Him, he does not stay at a distance. And thus, from the heart, he shouts out his entire drama to God, his friend: “Have mercy on me”! Just that prayer: “Have mercy on me”! He does not ask for some loose change as he does with passers-by. No. He asks for everything from the One who can do everything. He asks people for loose change; he asks everything from Jesus who can do everything. “Have mercy on me, have mercy on all that I am”. He does not ask for a grace, but presents himself: he asks for mercy on his person, on his life. It is not a small request, but it is very beautiful because it is a cry for mercy, that is, compassion, God’s mercy, his tenderness.
Bartimaeus does not use many words. He says what is essential and entrusts himself to God’s love which can make his life flourish again by doing what is humanly impossible. This is why he does not ask the Lord for alms, but makes everything be seen — his blindness and his suffering which was far more than not being able to see. His blindness was the tip of the iceberg ; but there must have been wounds, humiliations, broken dreams, mistakes, remorse in his heart. He prayed with his heart. And what about us? When we ask for God’s grace, do we also include in our prayer our own history, our wounds, our humiliations, our broken dreams, our mistakes and our regrets?
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” Let us, too, recite this prayer today. Let us repeat it and ask ourselves: “What is my prayer like”? Let each of us ask ourselves: “What is my prayer like”? Is it courageous, does it contain the good insistence of Bartimaeus, does it know how to “take hold” of the Lord as he passes, or is it rather content with making a formal greeting every now and then, when I remember? Those lukewarm prayers that do not help at all. Furthermore, is my prayer “substantial”, does it bare my heart before the Lord? Do I take my story and life experience to him? Or is it anaemic, superficial, made up of rituals, without feeling and without heart? When faith is alive, prayer is heartfelt: it does not beg for spare change, it is not reduced to the needs of the moment. We must ask everything of Jesus, who can do everything. Do not forget this. We must ask everything of Jesus, with my insistence before Him. He cannot wait to pour out his grace and joy into our hearts; but unfortunately, it is we who keep our distance, through timidness, laziness or unbelief.
-->Many of us, when we pray, do not believe that the Lord can work miracles. I am reminded of the story — which I have seen — of the father who was told by the doctors that his nine-year-old daughter would not survive the night; she was in hospital. And he took a bus and travelled 70 kilometres to the Shrine of Our Lady. It was closed and, clinging to the gate, he spent the whole night praying: “Lord, save her! Lord, give her life”! He prayed to Our Lady all night long, crying out to God, crying out from his heart. Then in the morning, when he returned to the hospital, he found his wife weeping. And he thought: “She is dead”. And his wife said: “No one understands, no one understands, the doctors say it’s a strange thing, she seems to have healed”. The cry of that man who asked for everything was heard by the Lord who had given him everything. This is not a story: I saw this myself in the other diocese. Do we have this courage in prayer? Let us ask everything to the One who can give us everything, like Bartimaeus, who was a great teacher, a great teacher of prayer. May Bartimaeus, with his genuine, insistent and courageous faith, be an example for us. And may Our Lady, the prayerful Virgin, teach us to turn to God with all our heart, confident that he listens attentively to every prayer.
EliminaFAUSTI Jesus is the Light of the world (Jn 8:12), the Son of David who exercises His kingship by showing Mercy, He is the Lord who gives sight to the blind (Ps 146:8). The invocation of His Name is our salvation.
RispondiEliminaAnd it saves us because it is all Mercy addressed to our misery.
The disciple becomes a disciple through the calling of the Name of Jesus and request for His Mercy.
This heals his blindness and he can contemplate in the Crucified One what the eye has seen nor hear heard, nor ever enter the heart of man, but which God has prepared for those who love Him.
He is enlightened: finally seeing reality.
"What do you want Me do for you? asks Jesus to the blind man. It is the same question that the Gospel asks of each of us, who, like him, finds himself blind, in a position of sitting and out of the way.
This is the decisive question of the Gospel. It is only if I am blind, and I know it, that I know what I want, and I ask Him. And we make our own the answer of the blind man: "Jesus have mercy on me. "Rabboni," Rabboni, let me see now! "
Finally, Jesus hears the request He has always waited for.
Only in this way can we obtain the sight: we have faith that saves, and we follow Him on His way.
Seeing the Lord is the life of man. Born for this reason, he is always agitated until he contemplates the Face. Jesus on the Cross will tear the veil of the temple and fully will reveal God on earth.
The purpose of all the catechesis of Jesus to his disciples and of Mark to his reader is to bring here, where the last miracle is done, the definitive one: the healing of blindness.
This miracle is a baptismal illumination that brings us into being, out of darkness into the light.
It is the gift of the Spirit to see what Jesus is doing in Jerusalem and to examine the depths of God in the Crucified One. In the Gospel of Mark, this blind man is the only one - after the demons - but in a very different way - who calls Jesus by His Name. He has a personal relationship of knowledge and familiarity with him. To call Jesus is to pronounce His Name, the only one in which there is salvation.
This blind man is a mirror for each of us. Listening, he has heard God's promise, and he can desire and ask what God wants to give us. The invocation of Jesus' Name makes him jump on his feet, throw his cloak, go to Him, pray to Him and get his sight, so that he can follow Him on his way.
From this story, faith is ear to hear, mouth to invoke, feet to come to Him, hands to throw the cloak and eyes to see and follow Him.
Its principle is the recognized misery, its means are the invocation of Mercy, its accomplishment is the illumination that shows the Lord.
Jesus is the Light of the world (Jn 8:12), the Son of David who exercises his kingdom with mercy, the Lord who gives sight to the blind (Ps 146:8). The invocation of His Name is our salvation. And He saves us because He is the Mercy of our misery.
The disciple is begotten as such by the invocation of the Name of Jesus and His Mercy.
Thus he heals from his blindness and can contemplate in the Crucified One what the eye has never seen, nor the ear has ever listened, nor has it ever entered the hearts of men and what God has prepared for those who love Him...
He is enlightened: he finally sees reality.
“OF YOU MY HEART HAS SAID, 'SEEK HIS FACE. YOUR FACE, O LORD, I SEEK; HIDE NOT YOUR FACE FROM ME” (PSALM 27:8-9)
RispondiEliminahttps://salmiognigiorno.blogspot.com/2024/08/da-salmo-27-b-c.html