I remember when I was in middle-school, my parents took me to the eye doctor, and it was determined that I, in fact, needed glasses.

Now, I was very skeptical of this. I was thoroughly convinced that I could see just fine. And when the glasses finally came in, and I went to pick them up, I distinctly remember jabbering nonstop to the optometrist that — actually, you see — I didn’t really need glasses, and that I could see quite well without them and that all of this was sort of a waste of time for him AND me…

That is… until he suddenly slipped my brand new glasses onto my face mid-sentence.

And I suddenly stopped talking.

And it got real quiet…

Because the world had DRAMATICALLY changed in an instant.

My view on reality had been totally transformed.

Blurry things in the distance became obvious and crystal clear.

I could read the street signs just outside of the storefront.

I saw edges of things for the very first time!

I didn’t even know that was POSSIBLE…

But there it all was.

I could now see reality so much more clearly. So I had to swallow my own words, and change the way I thought about the world.

In our gospel this weekend, we meet a man who knows all too well that he  couldn’t see.

Blind Bartimaeus…

Nobody needed to break the news to him… He lived with the reality of his physical blindness constantly. He walked in absolute darkness. He was unable to work due to his disability, and some scholars speculate that he couldn’t even participate in public worship because of his ailment. 

He was abandoned, isolated, and ostracized…He had to sit on the side of a dangerous Jericho road every day… begging for spare pocket change.

That is… until he heard that Jesus was on his way.

At this, Bartimaeus began to cry out: “Jesus, Son of David — Have pity on me!” At first, the crowd tried to get him to be quiet, but he just ignored them, and kept yelling out: “Jesus, Son of David — Have pity on me!” 

Finally, the Lord called the man over — and we hear that he jumped up… sprang up from the ground…throwing aside his cloak… throwing aside probably the one single thing he physically owned in the entire world… and he came into Jesus’ presence.

Christ then asks him: “What do you want me to do for you?” …at which point Bartimaeus replies:

“Master, I want to see.” 

“I don’t want to be blind anymore…”

He wanted to see — physically — obviously.

…But in a deeper sense, a more crucial sense — He wanted to see reality. 

He wanted to see the Truth.

Bartimaeus wanted to see LIFE the way that God sees life!

And that’s exactly what happened, isn’t it? We read that Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” 

And immediately he received his sight…but notice! He did NOT go away… No! Bartimaeus began to follow Jesus on the way.

So, we see — Bartimaeus receives not only his physical sight — he receives SPIRITUAL sight. The VISION OF FAITH. He becomes a disciple of Jesus, which is to say: 

He sees the Truth now. 

He sees the meaning of his entire life. 

He sees what he has to do: 

Leave everything, and go be with Jesus.

How humble, Bartimaeus is. How willing to accept reality as he now sees it to truly be! His entire world changed in an instant!

Like putting on a pair of brand new glasses.

[…] 

Ya know, I wish that was the only time in my life that I can say that I stubbornly insisted that I could see everything just fine — when I was fully convinced that my perspective was correct even when other people around me said it wasn’t.

I think when most people meet me, they sort of assume that just because I am a Catholic priest today — a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek, as our second reading put it — that I’ve therefore ALWAYS been this way. That I’ve always been sold out on the Catholic faith. That I’ve always been sort of a “company-guy” — a raging papist — somebody who has “toed the line” my entire life and just blindly believed whatever the Church told me was true…

Absolutely not.

At one point, I was very skeptical of all this.

I was not sold out in the slightest.

I was not totally on board with some stuff the Church taught.

In fact, at one point in my life, I would have described myself as an agnostic at best… maybe even something of an atheist…

Whatever I was… I know one thing for sure:

I was very much blinded by the world.

I was blinded by the messaging and ideas that I ran smack dab into almost as soon as I stepped onto a college campus. I was blinded and deceived by my own desires and ideas… my own estimation of reality… brainwashed by what other people were pressuring me to say and think.

And all the while — I was still very much like my middle school self — insisting all the while: 

I don’t need glasses.

I can see just fine!

How different Bartimaeus is… He knew full well how blind he was!!!! 

His sincerest prayer and desire was always: 

“Master… I WANT TO SEE!”

Thankfully for me, Jesus — in His supreme mercy and love — stepped into my life all the same, and He helped me in not so subtle, not so gentle ways… to see how blind I really was.

And over time, with God’s help… my eyes were opened more and more. The picture… came more into focus… the edges got more crisp… and now: 

I can’t unsee the Truth! 

I can’t go back to blindness. 

I don’t want to go back to the blur…

No… “Master, I want to see!”

I want to see even more, in fact! Because Lord, knows… my vision is NOT perfect yet.

No.

Not until I see God, face to face, in the Beatific Vision will I be able to say that. As Saint Paul once put it: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.”

And until that day, we all have blindspots, don’t we? 

However far we’ve come along this path of following the Lord…  we all still have places in our lives where we still need our vision to be continually corrected and sharpened… where we are still resisting God’s vision and plan for our life.

This is what ongoing conversion is all about!

If we say: “We see fine already!” — then that’s where our conversion stops. 

That scene in John’s gospel comes to mind, where Jesus says: “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.”

Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him: “Surely we are not also blind, are we?” 

And Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.”

Lemme ask you this:

If we heard that Jesus was coming down the road right now… what would you say to him when he asked: “What do you want me to do for you?”

Would we reply: “Thanks but no thanks Jesus, I can already see just fine. In fact, lemme tell ya a thing or two. Lemme show YOU how I see things…”

Or … would we be like blind, humble Bartimaeus: “Master, I want to see! I want to see more! I wan to see the world — to see life — as YOU see it! I want all blindness in my life to be wiped away forever!!! SHOW ME WHAT YOU SEE, LORD!”

Because here’s the deal: If we are too proud, or perhaps too afraid to ask the Lord to help us see things the way He sees them, then we are settling for blindness.

We are settling for a dark, blurry life, and we will lose our way very very easily.

One of the things that I think our current culture is sadly more and more blind to… is the sanctity of life.

Maybe a lot of people don’t realize this, but October happens to be Respect Life Month.

And truth be told… when I hear about laws that keep getting passed in state after state, allowing for abortion later and later…as abortion pills become more and more readily accessible… shipped on-demand right to your front door… when the pro-life position is removed from political platforms… backed away from or ignored… then I have to conclude, sadly… that we are going blind.

So, my prayer and the prayer of the Church during this Respect Life Month, is and always will be this:

“Lord! — Jesus, my Master and my Savior!!!! Help us to see!!!!”

 

Lord, help us to see that every new life is precious and unrepeatable.

Help us to see that a human person is never a mistake, even when the circumstances are really hard or even tragic.

Help us to see that a child is never a problem to be eliminated.

Jesus, have mercy on us — Help us to see that the womb is a place of protection and growth, not of destruction.

Help us to see past the polite, comfortable, deceptive language — “women’s health” … “pro-choice” … “reproductive rights” … “healthcare”

Help us to instead see the helpless and totally dependent little one, being silently knit together in his or her mother’s womb.

Help us to see the little fingers — Help us to see the tiny toes.

Help us to see that this is not just a blob of cells to be thrown away… it’s a brand new person with an immortal soul destined for HEAVEN…

Help us to see the heartbeat on the ultrasound screen.

Help us to see that we have no right to intentionally make that heartbeat stop.

Help us to see that this is really the most basic, most fundamental right… the right to be born. …The right to exist at all.

Lord, help us also to see with eyes of compassion all the young women who feel pressured and trapped and scared… who feel like they have no other option than to have an abortion.

Lord, please help us to see how we can show mercy and love toward those who have chosen abortion in the past and now regret it terribly.

Help those mothers to see… that forgiveness is possible. That there is hope for healing. That they are not rejected or judged. That they have dignity, and their story matters, and that they have a home here in the Church and with our Lord who loves them infinitely.

Lastly…

Help us to also see new and creative ways that will help support and encourage others to choose life.

And help us to see how we can go on supporting the mother AND the child AND the father… well after the baby has been born.

Open our eyes, Lord. 

We want to see the Truth.

We want others to be able to see, too.

Please take away our blindness.