Wednesday, February 19, 2003
6^th Week in Ordinary Time

1st Reading: Gen 8:6-13, 20-22
Gospel: Mk 8:22-26

When Jesus and his disciples came to Bethsaida, Jesus was asked to touch a blind man who was brought to him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had put spittle on his eyes and laid his hands upon him, he asked, “Can you see anything?”

The man, who was beginning to see, replied, “I see people! They look like trees, but they move around.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again and the man could see perfectly. His sight was restored and he could see everything clearly.

Then Jesus sent him home saying, “Do not return to the village.”

Gospel Commentary

There’s something very special in the miracle of the cure of the blind man. It is the only cure in the Gospels which takes place gradually, in two stages. It may be that Jesus intended this gradual restoration of sight to be a symbol of the gradual enlightenment that would come to His disciples concerning His teaching. We simply have faith—the first dim light, by which we see darkly as through smoked glass. When we persevere, when we don’t become discouraged because of our lack of understanding, we gradually develop a better spiritual insight.

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