REFLECTIONS TODAY
When one has a problem with his sight, one does not see clearly, only shadows of people and objects moving. The blind man who sees only partially after Jesus has put spittle in his eyes sees people looking like trees and walking.
Only when Jesus lays his hands on his eyes is his sight restored, and he can see everything completely. This “gradual healing” of the blind man can be taken as an allegory. Our spiritual healing may take place gradually.
At the beginning, we may see people only indiscriminately, a mass of men and women going about their daily grind. Then as we grow deeper in our faith and in our relationship with the Lord, we begin to see people more distinctly, knowing them personally. The same is true with our relationship with the Lord.
At the start, we may see the Lord as in a dim reflection, but guided by the Holy Spirit, we get to see him more fully, as in face-to-face.
And we will also realize that we are fully known and truly loved by him (1 Cor 13:12), and that nothing can separate us from his love (Rom 8:38-39).
First Reading •
Gn 8:6-13, 20-22
At the end of forty days Noah opened the hatch he had made in the ark, and he sent out a raven, to see if the waters has lessened on the earth.
It flew back and forth until the waters dried off from the earth. Then he sent out a dove, to see if the waters had lessened on the earth.
But the dove could find no place to alight and perch, and it returned to him in the ark, for there was water over all the earth. Putting out his hand, he caught the dove and drew it back to him inside the ark.
He waited yet seven days more and again released the dove from the ark. In the evening the dove came back to him, and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! So Noah knew that the waters had lessened on the earth…
In the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water began to dry up on the earth…
Then Noah built an altar, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar. When the smelled the sweet odor, he said to himself:
“Never again will I doom the earth because of man since the desires of the man’s heart are evil from the start; nor will I ever again strike down all living beings, as I have done.
As long as the earth lasts, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
Gospel • Mark 8:22-26
When Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethsaida, people brought to him a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.
Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on the man and asked, “Do you see anything?” Looking up the man replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.”
Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second time and he saw clearly; his sight was restored and he could see everything distinctly. Then he sent him home and said, “Do not even go into the village.”
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2025,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: publishing@stpauls.ph; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.