“Take courage; get up, he is calling you.”
The blind man made the most of an opportunity to be in the presence of God. He knew he had nothing to lose and everything to gain from crying out to Jesus. We too must not be afraid to cry out to God and so that we don’t miss our chance to ask for God to intervene.
Why does the blind man cry out? “He sensed that this was his moment. How long he had been waiting for this opportunity!” [1] How long have we waited for our opportunity? “Don’t you feel the same urge to cry out? You who also are awaiting at the side of the way, of this highway of life that is so very short? You who need more light, you who need more grace to make up your mind to seek holiness? Don’t you feel an urgent need to cry out, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me?’ What a beautiful aspiration for you to repeat again and again!”. [2] “What a wonderful example for us to follow! For Christ is always within range of our voice, of our prayer. He is passing close by us so that we will not be afraid to call to him.” [3]
The blind man’s prayer, the “Jesus Prayer is a holy and ancient method of constant prayer devised by the monastic fathers and mothers of the early Church, which serves as an ongoing profession of faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior though invoking and meditating on the very name of Christ and asking him for forgiveness: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ ‘If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.’ (Rom. 10:9-10) ‘For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ (Rom. 10:13)” [4] The Jesus prayer can be found in the Popular Devotion section of this packet.
If Jesus is always within range why do I need to cry out to Him? Jesus never forces Himself on us. We are the ones who have to cry out to Him. We have to open our hearts to allow Him to work within us. We should never put this off, but be like the blind man, who as St. Augustine said, “feared that Jesus would pass by and never return.” [5] We should never let a day go by without calling out to Jesus for His divine mercy and grace.
However, just as Bartimaeus discovered, there are people out there who want to quiet us. There are people who can be an obstacle to our Lord. How are the people an obstacle to the blind man?“‘Many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.’ As people have done to you, when you sense that Jesus was passing your way. Your heart beat faster and you too began to cry out, prompted by an intimate longing. Then your friends, the need to do the done thing, the easy life, your surroundings, all conspired to tell you: ‘Keep quiet, don’t cry out. Who are you to be calling Jesus? Don’t bother him.’” [6] What sort of things people have said to you to keep you quiet about your faith? What obstacles have people tried to put in your path to Jesus? In what ways have we been an obstacle to others, preventing them from crying out to Jesus?
How does the blind man overcome these obstacles? How does God help us overcome our obstacles? “But poor Bartimaeus would not listen to them. He cried out all the more: ‘Son of David, have mercy on me.’ Our Lord, who had heard him right from the beginning, let him persevere in his prayer. He does the same with you. Jesus hears our cries from the very first, but he waits. He wants us to be convinced that we need him. He wants us to beseech him, to persist, like the blind man waiting by the road from Jericho. ‘Let us imitate him. Even if God does not immediately give us what we ask, even if many people try to put us off our prayers, let us still go on praying”. [7] If we can overcome our obstacles, we can obtain all that we want and need from God. “The blind man overcame the obstacles of his environment and obtained his heart’s desire.” [8]
Was there anyone out there for the blind man and not against him? Yes. Remember after Jesus calls for Bartimaeus, some of the people tell him Jesus is calling him. “And Jesus stopped, and told them to call him.’ Some of the better people in the crowd turned to the blind man and said, ‘Take heart; rise, he is calling you.’ Here you have the Christian vocation! ... And throwing of his mantle the man sprang up and came to Jesus. He threw off his mantle!” [9]
Why does throwing off his mantle matter? St. Jose Maria Escriva explains it best: “I don’t know if you have ever lived through a war, but many years ago I had occasion to visit a battlefield shortly after an engagement. There, strewn all over the ground, were greatcoats, water bottles, haversacks stuffed with family souvenirs, letters, photographs of loved ones…which belonged, moreover, not to the vanquished but to the victors! All these items had become superfluous in the bid to race forward and leap over the enemy defenses. Just as happened to Bartimaeus, as he raced towards Christ.” [10]
Bartimaeus was not who he wanted to be; he wanted more and knew that only Christ could give this to him. It was not just sight that Bartimaeus wanted, because it that had been the case, after being healed, he would have continued about his life doing what he willed. Rather though, he wanted Christ, life to the full, and so he “followed him on the way.” Is our life what we want it to be? Is there more?
Do we only have one chance? Yes and no. We only have one life to live here on earth, so in that sense we do only have one chance. However, God does not only call us once, he calls us constantly! “Bear in mind that our Lord is seeking us at every moment: get up, he tells us, put aside your indolence, your easy life, your petty selfishness, your silly little problems. Get up from the ground, where you are lying prostrate and shapeless. Acquire height, weight and volume, and a supernatural outlook.” [11]
How do we not miss our chance? We must realize Jesus is near us everyday. He is available to us in the tabernacle in every Catholic Church. If we turn to God, He is already there waiting for us. Nothing can separate us from God in this world. As it says in the Wednesday Morning Prayer Week II reading from Romans, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [12] “Never forget that Christ cannot be reached without sacrifice. We have to get rid of everything that gets in the way: greatcoat, haversack, water bottle. You have to do the same in this battle for the glory of God, in this struggle of love and peace by which we are trying to spread Christ’s kingdom. In order to serve the Church, the Pope and all souls, you must be ready to give up everything superfluous…” [13]
[1] Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 5, 56.2
[2] St. John Chrysostom, Hom. On St. Matthew, 66
[3] Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 5, 56.2
[4] http://thelastmartyrdom.com; The Jesus Prayer
[5] cf. S. Augustine, Sermon 88, 13
[6] St. John Chrysostom, Hom. On St. Matthew, 66
[7] St. John Chrysostom, Hom. On St. Matthew, 66
[8] Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 5, 56.2
[9] J. Escriva, Friends of God, 195-198
[10] ibid.
[11] ibid.
[12] Romans 8:38-39
[13] J. Escriva, Friends of God, 195-198