Faith heals our blindness

THAT gospel episode about the blind man whose vision was

restored because of his great faith gives us a good lesson to learn.

(cfr Lk 18,35-43) And that is that we have to be like that blind man

eager to ask Christ for a cure.

            Regardless of how others may restrain us from getting the

attention of Christ, as what happened to that blind man, we should

just insist, fearlessly and shamelessly, in asking Christ for a cure.

Christ will always attend to us, no matter how disturbing we may

appear to him according to our human standards.

            But first of all, we should be like that blind man,

acknowledging our own blindness. Yes, we are all blind, even if we may

be gifted already with immense knowledge of things because of our

studies and experiences.

            In fact, we can say that we are more blind the more

knowledge of things we seem to accumulate, because this latter status

usually sheds some light that blinds us rather than clarifies things

for us. It tends to take us away from God rather than lead us to him.

            Let’s hope that we can echo what is attributed to

Socrates, i.e., that “the more I know, the more I realize that I know

nothing.” These Socratic words somehow also find basis on some words

of St. Paul who said: “The one who thinks he knows something does not

yet know as he ought to know.” (1 Cor 8,2).

            And that’s because a knowledge that is not guided or

enlightened by faith is a knowledge that does not lead to charity. It

leads to pride, vanity and arrogance instead. Again, St. Paul in this

regard said: “Knowledge puffs up, but charity builds up.” (1 Cor 8,1)

            We have to be wary of our tendency to think that we are

just fine because we happen to be very knowledgeable about things in

general, or that we know much more and better than the average fellow

in the street.

            This is our usual problem which we should resolve by

always deepening our humility. If we notice that the growth of our

knowledge of things does not lead us to a greater love for God and for

others, then it is bogus knowledge no matter how scientific that

knowledge may be.

            We need to humble ourselves so that our pursuit for

knowledge will always be inspired and accompanied by the desire to a

growth of faith, of an insistent faith like that of the blind man in

the gospel, so that that knowledge will lead us to have greater

charity.

            Remember that gospel episode of the cure of the man born

blind. (Jn 9,1-41) Christ cured that blind man, and that is why the

cured man could now see Christ, believe him and worship him. But the

self-righteous, know-all leading Jews, who prided themselves as being

knowledgeable, turned out to be actually blind—that is, spiritually

blind—because they could not recognize Christ as the redeemer even if

Christ was right in front of them.

            The relevant passage goes this way: “Jesus heard that they

had cast him (the blind man with restored sight) out, and when he

found him, he said to him: Do you believe in the Son of God? He

answered and said: Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?

            “And Jesus said to him: You have both seen him, and it is

he that talks with you. And he (the blind man) said: Lord, I believe.

And he worshipped him. Jesus said: For judgment I came into this

world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become

blind.” (Jn 9,35-39)

            We have to acknowledge our blindness, ask Christ for a

cure with a lot of faith, so that we can actually see and know things

as they really are.