In today’s Gospel, Jesus says to the blind man: “Go your way, your faith has saved you.” This blind man, Bartimaeus, had not only been blind, but in those days he had to resort to begging. His whole life must have been frustrating until he encountered Jesus, who not only cures him, but the Gospel says that “he received his sight and followed [Jesus] on the way.”
Our faith can help us “see” the Lord’s presence in our lives and in the world. We see and hear a lot in our daily lives and much of
it is not positive. In today’s world, we need to learn how to see better and to hear better. I believe that it is a good habit to restrict ourselves on how much of the media we expose ourselves to. Much of what we see and hear does not have a positive effect on us but confuses us or has a negative effect on us. We need to know what is happening in the world so that we can act appropriately as Christians, but the media can saturate us until we cannot see and hear clearly. Did you ever consider “fasting” from your daily consumption of the media?
November begins this week with the celebration of All Saints, followed by our remembrance of our deceased loved ones. We will have our regular Mass schedules for both days. On Friday evening at 7:00 PM we have our annual Our Souls’ Mass where our loved ones who died this past year are remembered. There is a mention of their names and a candle lighting ceremony. If you lost someone during the past year, you are invited to this special Eucharist.