In today's gospel, although Jesus is talking to Bartimaeus, he could well be speaking to each of us as he asks the blind beggar, 'What do you want me to do for you?' (Mk 10:51). For the Jericho beggar, the answer is obvious: he wants to be able to see. Each of us will have a different pressing need that we want healing today: it might be a broken relationship or a relief from pain. Bartimaeus is not afraid to cry out from his misery and poverty, even though his friends and neighbours want him to shut up and stop embarrassing their great town of Jericho. The more they tried to keep him quiet, the louder his voice became.

Bartimaeus has lived a life of poverty and loneliness: his blindness meant that he was cut off from society, only able to beg for a living. The ministry of Jesus is a call to those on the margins just like the man at the centre of the gospel today. He had no means and no future but is prepared to take a chance with Jesus. Mary took that risk in the Annunciation; Peter and the rest of the disciples took a similar chance when they were called to leave everything and follow the itinerant preacher from Nazareth. In 'Christus Vivit', Pope Francis urges us to look for our personal vocation and to answer that call:

'To discern our personal vocation, we have to realize that it is a calling from a friend, who is Jesus. When we give something to our friends, we give them the best we have. It will not necessarily be what is most expensive or hard to obtain, but what we know will make them happy.'

In your parish there are those who want to follow Jesus as priests and religious—what is your parish prepared to do to encourage vocations. Priests just do not drop down from the 'planet priest'! As the old saying goes: your priest is somebody's son, can your son be somebody's priest? We have no right to complain and act up if dioceses are forced to close churches and amalgamate parishes, if we are not prepared to do our part to answer Jesus's call.

Bartimaeus is prepared to ask for the gift of sight and he was then prepared to follow 'Jesus along the road' (Mk 10:52). Today we can ask to see more clearly, as we pray with Richard of Chichester, as he prepared for death:

Thanks be to you, my Lord Jesus for all the benefits you have given me, For all the pains and insults you have borne for me. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, of you three things I pray: To see you more clearly, love you more dearly, follow you more nearly, day by day.

Tradition has it that this former blind beggar followed Jesus into Jerusalem and was a member of that first Christian community. His response to the generosity and care of Jesus in giving new sight is to follow Jesus and show equal generosity. As Jesus asks each of us today 'what do you want?', we are called to respond with equal generosity. So much is given to us during our lives by those in ministry, perhaps today is that day to properly thank your deacons, catechists, lectors, ministers of the Eucharist, even spare a thanks for your parish priest! We are very quick to be critical of parish leadership when things go wrong, do we exercise the same speed when we have been supported and helped. Your ministers who work tirelessly for you are real people, with real feelings and hurt just like everyone else in society—your simple words of 'thanks' could actually make somebody's day today. Think about those stewards who had the often-thankless task of monitoring those coming into churches during Covid. We had to exercise a protocol that was difficult and was not helped by the 'Karen's' or 'Ken's' who refused to wear masks or take holy communion in the hand. The pandemic asked us all to go the extra mile and work outside our personal comfort zone for the common good. It was so sad to hear of the abuse and hurt that some ministers had to experience at the hands of those entitled ones who saw themselves above the guidelines set down by the Bishops. When priests allowed the protocols to be broken, they let us all down and put the sanctity of life at risk.

Our Gospel today offers us four valuable lessons:

* 1. Do not let anybody silence your voice or dampen your enthusiasm when you're chasing after Jesus.

I have always loved how enthusiastically Bartimaeus called to Jesus. He heard that Christ was nearby, and he knew he had one chance to be healed. Being blind, Bartimaeus would not have been able to walk nimbly through the crowd, looking for Jesus. He had one resource and that was his voice—but people tried to silence him.

*2. Your relationship with Christ is personal.

God is a relational God. He wants us to have an intimate relationship with Him. This can only happen if we keep our eyes firmly fixed on Him and don't let anyone or anything distract you. Like blind Bartimaeus, we need to focus on God and Him only. We have a race to run, and we can only do that when we pay attention to the path set before us and not allow ourselves to get distracted by what other people say to or about us.

*3. Obstacles will be put in your way, be ready to cast them aside.

Blind Bartimaeus' story should be our story. We should be so desperate for Jesus that we chase after Him despite what others say to us. We should want to be with God so much that we do not allow any obstacles to be in our way.

*4. You do not always have to pay attention to the crowd.

In the story of Blind Bartimaeus we saw the people try to silence him when he cried out to Jesus. Had it been up to them, Jesus would have walked past the blind man, and everything would have remained the same. When Jesus stopped to speak to Bartimaeus, these same people tried to encourage him—they called to the blind man. 'Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you' (Mark 10:49). I'm sure some of them were the same people who had rebuked him earlier. The lesson we learn from Bartimaeus? We can't listen to the crowd.

The crowd is changeable—remember the Jerusalem crowd that cried 'Hosanna' on Palm Sunday were all too ready to condemn with their 'Crucify him, crucify him!' on Good Friday. If we are going to follow our purpose, we have to base our decisions on a standard that never changes. God never changes. Our actions should be based on what God says rather than what the secular society sometimes dictates.

Are you willing to accept the Truth and allow it to set you free? Or will you remain spiritually blind because it is easy and familiar? With Bartimaeus, we can seize the day and, with Pope Francis, be blessed with the gift of true light:

With the light of faith, he who was blind discovers his new identity. He sees his life and the world around him in a new light and is no longer a slave to blindness and prejudice (St Peter's Square 22/03/2021).

Author: Fr Gerry O'Shaughnessy SDB

Image © Matt Collamer on Unsplash