by Rev. Herbert Nichols

When one imbibes of "bottled" spirits, it can be often said that their eyes are opened or more surely their lips; but we who have a share in the priesthood of Christ by virtue of our Baptism and an obligation to share the good news somehow feel deprived of that inner spirit--to borrow from last Sunday’s gospel we need to drink up--drink in. The life of God which we are called to share as disciples will not be seen by others externally if it is not first internalized.

In the first reading from Jeremiah as well as in the gospel, we find the image of a road and of a mistakable hum and buzz. This is not any ordinary journey of pilgrims. They are a captive people exiled in a strange land (Iraq) and they pay close attention to their captors; but in the air they cans sense a feeling of change.

Their nostrils pick up the sense of smoldering fires. Their captives are loosing grip on them as Babylonians (Iranians)begin to overwhelm them. The new conquerors do not take the effort to carry captives--they are released and sent home. All this buzzing is the work of God. Jeremiah reminds them: God is in charge.

In the gospel we find another pilgrimage of peoples pressing toward Jerusalem for the holy day. There is another hum and buzz in the air. Bartimaeus a blind beggar hears and feels and smells something in the air, whose very quality is charged with energy as Jesus of Nazareth and his disciples approach

Blindness was very common at the time and in the area of the Holy Land and we find numerous counts of Jesus healing the blind who are brought to Him, or to whom He approaches; but in this case Bartimaeus leaps in faith, flings his beggars cloak, his license to survive, and makes the most of this singular opportunity.

The embarrassed crowd strives to silence him. There is an allegory at work here. Bartimaeus is physically unsighted, totally dependent, and totally trusting; whereas the crowd is blinded by their own fears and unsightedness, without faith, without mercy, without joy.

But Jesus asks Bartimaeus: What do you want? Perhaps some of us might think what a redundant question to ask a blind man; but Jesus does not presume answer. Bartimaeus answers simply I want to see. Jesus grants him both physical sight and insight. The story does not tell us where that insight led, but I’m sure that Bartimaeus shared that amazing story over and over again.

In our own lives we must move from the physical sight of seeing a cardinal or chickadee perched on a limb to an understanding of the migration necessary for the protection and provision of these beautiful creatures. .Understanding comes when

the eye is opened and the light penetrates the darkness giving insight. We find a solution or we see a principle, we understand with the inner eye.