Friday 4 December

Matthew 9:27-31

Nowadays there is a lot of talk and discussion about the management of change, self-development, life coaches, life mentoring and so on. We are constantly searching for self-improvement and self-development. Being healed is, however, very different from working to change ourselves. Jesus came to change and transform us by healing us.

In the healings in today’s Gospel passage Jesus is unveiled as the One who has the power to give sight to the blind and loosen the tongue of the mute. Most of us will read or hear today’s Gospel and think, ‘This is a wonderful story about how Jesus healed and went about doing good’ without grasping how it can impact our own lives. To read the Scripture in such a way that impacts our life is a gift, and one which the Holy Spirit desires to pour out generously upon us.

We can easily lose sight of the conviction that God still intervenes in our world today: this is, however, the gospel. In what ways are you blind? In what ways are you mute? In what ways do you need healing? The truth is that we all need healing and restoring, and the way we encounter the risen Lord today is through the sacraments of the Church.

Jean Vanier, the founder of L’Arche, said once, ‘Growth begins when we start to accept our own weakness.’ It is precisely in this confession of weakness and admission of need that we begin to receive God’s healing and light. Like the two blind men and the mute man, we too will be challenged to step out in faith. When we approach the sacrament of reconciliation we need faith to embrace the teaching that Jesus forgives us and washes away our sins. When we approach the healing sacrament of the Eucharist, we need grace to receive humbly, to acknowledge God’s healing presence and believe that it is medicine for our souls.
God is continually at work in our lives. We can lose sight of this reality and give in to a way of thinking which convinces us that God is removed and remote. The truth is that God draws close to us each time we call upon him in faith.

‘God saw the world falling to ruin because of fear and immediately acted to call it back with love. God invited by grace, preserved it by love and embraced it with compassion.’ (St Peter Chrysologus)

Isaiah 29:17-24 • Psalm 26(27):1, 4, 13-14
Matthew 9:27-31

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