From the settled life of a Prior of a monastery, St. Augustine of Canterbury was called by Pope Saint Gregory the Great to lead a team of monks to Britain to revive the faith there because many Christians had gone into hiding following the Saxon conquest.
When they reached France, adverse reports of the risk to their lives caused many of the monks to become afraid and the team returned to Rome, but the Pope sent them to Britain again. This time, they followed through and gradually succeeded in reviving the faith, showing that obedience and submission to Divine Will ultimately leads to success. In today’s first reading, the prophet Sirach praises all the works of God, which accompany His words; His omniscience, omnipotence and perfection. No thought or word can be hidden from God. Not only is He perfect, but His creation is also perfect. The psalmist is also in awe of the power of God; the wonders of His creation and His mercy and forgiveness.
In the Gospel reading, we see the unquestioning faith of Bartimaeus, the man born blind, known to sit at the temple gate begging for alms for most of his life. Like most powerless people, he is silenced by the crowd for crying out loudly for Jesus when he heard that He was coming. In calling out to Jesus as “Son of David”, Bartimaeus is invok- ing the prophetic ancestry of the Messiah, demonstrating his belief that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus publicly acknowledges his faith and heals him of his blindness.
During Lent, we were reminded of the subsequent trial of Jesus by the Sanhedrin, which, in casting around for evidence against Jesus, calls Bartimaeus and his father to speak of the healing but can find no cause to convict Jesus. The contrast between Bartimaeus’ faith and belief in Jesus as the Son of God, on the one hand, and the rejection of His Divinity by the temple rulers, when Jesus tells them that he is the Messiah, despite all the evidence of his miracles, which were prophesied in the scriptures, could not be more stark.
Prayer: Abba, Father, send Your Holy Spirit into our hearts to give us the faith of Bartimaeus and make us obedient and submissive to Your Will as was Your Son in going to His ignominious death on the cross.
