Our Redeemer, foreseeing that his disciples would
be troubled in their minds at his Passion, announced to them long before both
the sufferings of his Passion, and the glory of his Resurrection; so that when
they should see him dying, as he had foretold, they might not doubt that he
would rise again. But the disciples were still earthly-minded, and by no means
able to understand this mystery; so he worked a miracle. Before their eyes, a
blind man received his sight; that their faith might be strengthened by such
deeds of heavenly power, for they could not understand his words concerning
heavenly mysteries.
But the miracles of our Lord and Saviour must be
accepted in this manner, that we must believe that they actually took place and
at the same time were intended to signify something to us. Indeed, the works of
God not only manifest his power, but also speak to us of some mystery. For
example, who this blind man was of whom the story is told, we know not; but we
do know what is signified by this miracle. This blind man is indeed a figure of
mankind, driven out from the joys of Paradise in the person of its first
parent, knowing not the glory of the heavenly light, and suffering the darkness
of its condemnation. But nevertheless it is enlightened in the presence of its
Redeemer; so that now it possesses in desire the joys of inward light, and by
good works begins to walk in the way of life.
Those who were in front rebuked him, and told him
to be silent, but he cried out all the more, Son of David, have pity on me!
This blind man, when the crowd wished to silence him by threats, cried all the
louder: and in the same way, when weighed down by the carnal thoughts which
overwhelm us, we must likewise increase our determination to persevere in
prayer. Our sins are the crowd which would hinder our crying, and the
remembrance of them thrusts itself even in our prayer. But the more violently
we are assailed by our restless thoughts, the more fervently should we rise
above their tumult and give ourselves to prayer, in order by our insistence to
attract the tenderness of our Lord.
We are well aware when we wish to turn from
earthly things in order to seek God in prayer, the occupations in which we
formerly found pleasure become an irksome and heavy burden. We have much
trouble to set aside the remembrance of them from the eyes of our heart by
forming a holy desire, much trouble to efface these images by our tears of
penitence. But when we persevere fervently in prayer we induce the passing Lord
to stop and remain in our minds, according to what follows: then Jesus stopped,
and gave orders that the man should be brought to him. He was passing, but he
stopped. Indeed, as long as we allow ourselves in prayer a crowd of
distractions, we feel, so to speak, that Jesus passes by, but when we pray with
all our fervor and perseverance, Jesus stops and gives us light.
No comments:
Post a Comment