TWO BLIND MEN
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Two Blind Men.”
In the gospels there are a half dozen stories about blind
folks who call out to Jesus for healing.
A key message would be the obvious: Cry out to Jesus on a
regular basis to see better - and avoid being blind to the needs of others.
THE FIRST READING
The first reading from Isaiah would suggest we call out
to God to ask Him to help us see the beauties of creation all around us - or to
make that the work of our hands to make our gardens and our habitats better.
The first reading from Isaiah calls us to be holy - to
not be ashamed to be a holy person, to be an honest person, to show reverence
to God.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
Today’s gospel has these 2 blind me crying out, “Son of
David, have pity on us.”
Jesus then does what he usually does in these stories and
these moments - he challenges the screamer to move from physical healing to
soul healing - and then to move to the
faith level.
And both men receive their sight because of their faith.
And Jesus tells them to keep this quiet and they don’t
follow Jesus’ admonition - and they proclaim his healing powers to the whole
area.
Notice Jesus touches their eyes. He goes from the visible
to the invisible.
ANOTHER TWO MEN
Since today - December 7th - is the feast of St. Ambrose, why not apply the
story of the two blind me to the two men called, Augustine and Ambrose.
Ambrose and Augustine were both powerful men - who were
fortunate to meet each other in the city of Milan.
Ambrose was sent to Milan to be the Roman governor there
- and the people made him bishop.
As governor and as bishop - this short man - took no nonsense.
And boy could he preach. That is what drew Augustine to
him - his intelligence and his theology. But first they argued and Augustine
tried to figure out the message of the gospels.
The blindness that Augustine had was cleared up with the
help of Ambrose - and he saw the beautiful God - that we will hear
about in Augustine’s Confessions.
CONCLUSION
Pray the prayer of the blind men in the scriptures. Lord
have pity on us and help us to see.
Homily - Saint Ambrose
Isaiah 29: 17-24
Matthew 9: 27-31
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