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Prayer Service for the Opening of the XIII Assembly
Mark 10:46-52: “Courage! Get up, he is calling you…”
The episode of the
blind man of Jericho, Bartimeus, closes the long section
of the Gospel listing the radical demands made of the
disciples of Christ: love without recompense, without
conditions, and without limits (“If someone wants to
follow me…”); renunciation of earthly goods and
ambitions (the rich young man and “whoever wants to be
first must make himself the last of all and the servant
of all”); disinterested service to the brothers (request
of the sons of Zebedee and “the leaders of the nations
lord it over them; it must not be that way with you”).
In the present
passage, Jesus is beginning his ascent towards the holy
city, together with his disciples and a large crowd (v.
46). The disciples are frightened and worried because
of the gloomy predictions of Jesus concerning his
passion. They hope that it was a matter of a moment of
discouragement and bitterness, telling themselves that
certainly in the end there will be a triumphant
conclusion to everything. Their condition was that of
spiritual blindness. Before the ascent to Jerusalem,
Jesus performed one last sign: he healed another blind
man, a beggar seated by the side of the road, by the
name of Bartimeus. This man is the model of the
disciple who encounters Jesus and who follows him with a
new vision.
Seated along the
side of the road, Bartimeus asks for alms.
He is not
self-sufficient; he has to beg for everything, also for
pity; he depends on others, on events, on things. The
first step that he takes towards being healed is to
become aware of his situation (v. 47), the situation of
his own life. There are those who adapt themselves to
their present condition and those who, instead, find it
unacceptable and seek a way out. Bartimeus does not
resign himself to the darkness in which he is immersed.
He hears people
talking about Jesus
(vv. 47-48) and he understands that he is presented with
the chance of a lifetime: he can encounter the Son of
David… So he overcomes his fear, his embarrassment, his
shame. He cries out, he asks for help, he does not want
to remain as he is. Before reaching Christ, he faces
the disciples and the crowd that do not permit him to
call out his request. Bartimeus realizes that he is
going against the current; he immediately feels the
resistance from others to his effort to encounter
Jesus. The blind man is not discouraged; he does not
hide his anguish: he calls out and asks for help from
the one who can open his eyes. Even those who accompany
Jesus can constitute an obstacle for those who seek to
draw closer to the light of the Gospel. It happened in
Jericho, where “many scolded Bartimeus to make him keep
quiet,” and it continues to happen today.
Jesus hears the cry
of Bartimeus
(v. 49) and orders him to be brought to
him. Jesus’ call does not reach the blind man directly:
there is someone charged with conveying the message.
These mediators represent the true followers of Christ,
sensitive to the cry of those who seek the light. They
are those who dedicate a lot of their time to listening
to the problems of the brothers in difficulty, who
always have words of encouragement, who point out to the
blind the path that leads to the Master. In their words
there is an invitation to joy and to hope: “Take
courage! Get up! He is calling you!”
The blind man jumps
up, throws aside his cloak, and runs to the one who can
give him his sight
(v. 50). A blind man does not
usually act like this. It would be more logical to
expect that he would adjust his cloak on his shoulders
and, with an uncertain step, let himself be guided to
Jesus. This episode, therefore, has a symbolic meaning
and a theological message to give us. In Israel the
cloak was considered the only possession of the poor
man: “it is his only covering; it is the cloak for his
skin; without it how could be cover himself when he
sleeps?” (Exodus 22:26) The gesture of abandoning the
cloak expresses a decisive, total, and radical
separation from one’s previous state of life. This
gesture recalls the one made by the catechumens of
Mark’s community on the day of their baptism: they threw
away the old clothing (renunciation of their former
life, of the attitudes
and behaviors incompatible with the
choices they had made). They refused that which kept
them from running behind the Master.
The account
concludes with the dialogue between Jesus and the blind
man.
“What do you want me to do for you?” “Rabboni,” the
blind man said, “I want to see.” Jesus said in reply,
“Be on your way. Your faith has healed you.”
Immediately he received his sight and started to follow
him up the road (vv. 51-52). The faith of Bartimeus,
who recognizes in Jesus the Messiah and Savior, who
invokes his name, gains for him not only physical
healing, but also makes him Jesus’ disciple. Bartimeus
sets out to follow Jesus, even if he does not know where
Jesus will lead him. However, he has understood the
essential point: what matters is to remain with Jesus.
The Master asks every man who seeks the light to make
his profession of faith, to believe in Him who is the
light. “I am the light of the world, whoever follows me
will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light
of life (John 8:12).
The encounter with
Christ and His light places one in difficult situation.
Bartimeus was formerly seated; now he has to set out
walking. Before he had his “profession” which, for
better or worse, allowed him to eat; now he has to
re-invent a completely new life. Before he had a place
to live among people that he knew, who were friends; now
he has to leave for an adventure that is risky and
demanding. Whoever draws close to Christ must not
delude himself into thinking that he is facing a
comfortable life without problems. The experience of
Bartimeus teaches that the path awaiting those who
accept the light is very arduous. One is obliged to
examine attitudes, behaviors, friendships; one’s life,
time, material goods have to be approached in a
radically new way.
At the beginning of
this Assembly, I wanted to take this passage of the
Gospel as a guide.
The central character
is Bartimeus the blind man: he has eyes but does not
see; he is a beggar, in need of help; he cannot save
himself on his own. Today I am Bartimeus; we, the
members of this Assembly are Bartimeus; the Institute of
PIME is Bartimeus. “In this time of great difficulty
and opportunity for the mission,” says the prayer for
the XIII General Assembly. In recent years within the
Church, among the missionary Institutes, and also within
our own Institute, the question has often been posed:
what is mission? How do we carry out our mission
today? At a personal level we recognize that there are
different feelings and ideas; we have received different
types of formation; we have different personal
experiences, different experiences of the Church and of
mission; we have seen or adopted diverging missionary
methods, encountered the temptation of individualism and
unilateralism…We have often been stimulated by the
question: “Are we where we are supposed to be, and are
we doing what we are supposed to be doing?” In
addition, there are the external challenges that arise
from the revival of religions, which often leads to
various fundamentalisms; the challenges that arise from
progressive secularization, from the phenomenon of
globalization, from immigration, from the concentration
of masses of poor people in the megalopolises, from the
changes in society, in politics and in the church, etc.
In this situation confusion, disorientation, dismay, a
sense of impotence are only natural, with the consequent
defensiveness or intolerance.
Come, Lord Jesus,
we have need of light!
Bartimeus is not
resigned to his situation as a blind man and cries out:
“Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me.” The blind man
calls Jesus by name, a name which means “God saves.”
There are those, however, who try to block his cry, but
Bartimeus does not give up, he cries out even more
loudly, he asks for help from the one who can open his
eyes. This is a beautiful image! Also among our
confreres there are those who do not want to disturb the
Master, who have become comfortable, who are resigned to
their condition, who consider useless every reflection
and discussion on how to be missionaries and how to
carry out the mission, who are content to get by.
Instead, it is necessary to react, to face the
difficulties and challenges with courage and…to call on
the name of Jesus.
Jesus, the Gospel of
God, was absolutely the first and greatest
evangelizer. He was so perfectly to the very end:
to the sacrifice of his earthly life” (Evangeli
Nuntiandum 7).
Constitutions n. 6:
“The foundation and model of our apostolic life is
Christ the Evangelizer.”
Missionary activity,
as Redemptoris Missio says in chapter 8, requires a
specific spirituality: “To let oneself be guided by the
Spirit; to live the mystery of Christ, the one who was
sent; to love the Church and all men as Jesus did; the
true missionary is the saint.”
“We are certainly not
deceived by the naive assumption that, in the face of
the great challenges of our times, we can find some type
of magical formula. No, it will not be a formula that
saves us, but a Person, and the certainty that He give
us: I am with you!” (Novo Millennio Ineuntes 29)
Lord Jesus, free us
from our incapacity to see and make us strong, daring,
capable of responsible choices and decisions.
Jesus stops and
invites: “Call him.” The poor man cries out and the
Lord hears him!
Jesus makes use of
others to summon the blind man, just as he made use of
the disciples in order to distribute the bread that was
miraculously multiplied (Mark 6:41). Alongside the
confreres who are tired and who have given up, there are
other confreres who are attentive and ready to put
themselves on the line, ready to roll up their sleeves
and get to work. They are brothers with their eyes and
heart wide open, who are at the same time discrete in
their way of being and doing; brothers who are ready to
listen, to bear the burdens and the difficulties of the
others, who are forward looking, who are capable of
spreading optimism and hope. They are brothers who say
to the tired, weak, fragile brother: “Courage! Get up!
He is calling you!” Courage: where Jesus is, there is
no longer any reason to fear (Mark 4:40); get up: stand
up, on your feet; he is calling you: that is, he wants
you, you are dear to him.
Thank you, Lord,
for the gift of these brothers!
Bartimeus responds
with three gestures: he jumps up, he throws aside his
cloak, he runs to the one who can give him sight. We
have said that this behavior, rather strange for a blind
man, implies and important teaching. For the poor man,
the cloak was everything: he covered himself with his
cloak, he slept in his cloak. The Law, in fact,
prescribed that, if the poor man had given his cloak as
a pledge, it had to be returned to him before nightfall:
“You absolutely must return the pledge to him before the
sun sets, so that he can sleep in his cloak and bless
your name” (Dt. 24:12). To throw aside his cloak meant
to free himself of all his certainties and to trust
himself to Jesus alone. Bartimeus throws aside the
cloak which represents his life of suffering and
marginalization; he changes his old identity for a new
life. Do we know how to throw aside our fears, our
expectations, our prejudices, our pretenses, our
sorrows, our delusions, our guarantees, our convenience
in order to start again, to set out following Jesus, to
put out in the deep?
Lord Jesus, free us
from the many “slaveries” that keep us from deciding for
you!
What do you want me to
do for you? This is the question that Jesus asks each
one of us, the question that we all have to answer.
Bartimeus, without his cloak, stood before Jesus and
asked him: “Rabboni, that I might see again!” And the
first thing that he saw was the face of Jesus. Go, your
faith has saved you: faith is entrusting oneself; it is
communion with Jesus to whom we yield. For Bartimeus it
was not a direct call, as it was for the others
disciples including Levi. Jesus says: Go; he leaves the
blind man free to go, he asks nothing in exchange for
the benefit that he has granted him. “And he
immediately received his sight and followed him up the
road:” in fact, the light that he sees guides him to
follow Jesus, and to follow Jesus on the road that leads
to Jerusalem.
Lord Jesus, grant
that I may have my sight, that I may see so that I may
follow you without fear and without hesitation. We ask
you this through the intercession of Mary, Mother of the
Church and of humanity, through the intercession of our
martyrs and of the holy missionaries who already
contemplate your face. Amen.
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