Transcription
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
So, as always, let's take a couple of minutes to quiet ourselves down. Let everything die away so that our attention is focused on what Jesus wants to teach tonight. So, we become sponges ready to absorb His word, His thoughts, His will for us. So, we ask that we speak His words, think His thoughts, we enter into Him, and take all that we find there, and make it our own. Especially these resurrection appearances and the Paschal Mystery. And we acknowledge that His will is supremely good, is the fountain of all life. And so, we pray for the coming of the Kingdom in our hearts and in the world.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Mary, Queen of the Divine Will, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, Guardian of the Divine Will, pray for us.
Saint Hannibal and little daughter Luisa, pray for us.
Okay, we're going to take a look at a variety of things. Not sure whether we'll cover them all in this session or it require another Sunday. But, we're going to try to tie together some aspects of the resurrection appearances together with this important phrase from Saint Matthew's Gospel, the Beatitudes. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."
So, I want to start off with a question for us. During His life on earth, in the 30 years in Nazareth, He veiled Himself. He passed or they passed as an ordinary family. But, when He came to conduct His public ministry, when He revealed who He was, so many failed to recognize Him. It's quite really a powerful thing to think about that. That He was before them teaching with authority and power, as the scripture says, healing people, raising the dead, with an appearance and a face that must have been so beautiful, and yet people did not recognize Him, did not see Him for whom He was. There was something that stopped them.
So, at the moment, I'm just raising this simple point. And we shouldn't assume too readily, although we hope, God willing, that we might have been any different. And then, when we come to the resurrection appearances, we see constantly this struggle this struggle of people not seeing Him, not recognizing Him. All the way through, Mary Magdalene, the road to Emmaus, by the lake shore, and then finally, even at the Ascension, when they fell down and worshipped, the little phrase, "and there was some that still doubted." The road to Emmaus has that little phrase, "their eyes were held."
So, this is crucial, this whole idea of vision, of seeing Jesus, seeing God, seeing ourselves, seeing our neighbor, having what Jesus calls in the Gospels, a "simple eye." "If your eye is simple, your body will be full of light." And of course, as we said at the beginning, this crucial theme of the necessity to be pure of heart if we are to see God.
So, let us look at one of the appearances, the road to Emmaus in Luke's Gospel account, which we had, I think, last Sunday. So, if you remember, the disciples are walking away from Jerusalem, they're broken-hearted. They're on their way to Emmaus, and Jesus falls alongside them, and asks them, "What is the problem?" And so, they tell Him they're surprised He must be the only person that did not know what was going on in Jerusalem. And as they go away or as they go along, He opens the scriptures to them, and explains why it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and die. And at last, when they reach Emmaus, and the evening is coming on, and they get Him to stay, they then recognize Him in the breaking of bread, and go back to Jerusalem to tell the others.
So, let's look through and see what can the scriptures and what we can be enlightened by them tell us about why they couldn't see Him. Now, admittedly, one interpretation may simply be that that is what God didn't want them to do. But, that also, I think, only puts off the point one level. First of all, and remember, when we're going through what why they didn't recognize Him, we're also then learning about what we have to guard against if we want to see Jesus.
So, one of the most important things is their minds are clouded by grief. They didn't remain in Jerusalem. Whereas, Mary Magdalene and the holy women were going to the tomb. In other words, even though they did not know what was to happen, and although they had grief, too, the difference is for them, love overpowered the fear. Because remember, it took must have taken some courage to go to the tomb. You know, with all the issues, the soldiers guarding it, how were they going to roll the stone back? But, especially Mary Magdalene, it is the love and the desire for Jesus that keeps them there. Whereas these two apostles, these two disciples, sorry, are walking away from Jerusalem. So, that's interesting. They are walking away. Although they're upset, they grieve, that overpowered their love.
Secondly, they hadn't understood the scriptures. So, that's of course was in common with most of the apostles. John, before the others got to realize that. But, they didn't understand what the scriptures were saying about the Messiah. And this applied throughout. This applies even to Caiaphas, who although I believe, it's a personal opinion, knew the scriptures very well, so much so that you can read his whole interaction with Jesus as one that believes the scriptures about him, but is forcing him to reveal himself in a certain way.
But, why did they not understand the scriptures? What was the spiritual blindness that was holding them? And perhaps like us, it can be that we don't see or wish to see difficult things. This is so easy, and we're not criticizing or blaming them. But, there is in all of us the way we look at events, the way we read books, the way we interact with people, a great tendency to be blinded from difficult things. We know that, don't we? We've often heard people say that about someone, "Oh, they just simply couldn't come to terms with it." Or they just couldn't accept it. In other words, something in their mind or their heart is just saying, "No, I can't go there." And it must have been some of the case with the apostles because Jesus told them at least three times what was to happen with him. But, they couldn't absorb it. They couldn't digest it.
So, spiritual blindness and comes sometimes from the fact that the scriptures are too raw. They're too obvious in what they're saying. This is, I think, why someone like John of the Cross, St. John of the Cross, a doctor of the church, has such a role to play because he brings these truths home to us. I remember someone, I can't remember which priest it was, addressing the criticism that many people find John of the Cross a bit depressing and difficult. And his answer was simply, "All John of the Cross is writing is the gospel." And the gospel, if we think about it, is pretty tough. It's pretty tough. It's it's saying if you're going to be a disciple of Jesus, you have to be prepared to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him.
So, sometimes we're blinded because of our precondition to avoid difficult things. And isn't that a little bit true of some people's reaction to the divine will? That there's an element of not being open because in the end, it's pretty clear you have to get rid of your own will. It's clear throughout the writings. And that's difficult. It's a difficult thing to be accepting of the fact that we get we've got things wrong, we've so often acted in our lives from our own will. And that's a huge change. All of you here have undergone to some one degree or another that new way of looking at things. That the human will, as our lady says, is the root of all evils. But, if you imagine someone coming to this fresh, and if they're not disposed, and I think the best disposition to hearing about the divine will is being very honest that doing it our way has led to disaster. And I think that's what actually people welcome the divine will teaching is those people like at the time of John the Baptist, the prostitutes, the tax collectors, who realized they were not good people. And that their human will didn't do anything.
So, they were they going back to the disciples, they're on the road to Emmaus, but they haven't understood things. Thirdly, sadness. We're not now talking about a spiritual sadness such as holy people, of course Jesus and Mary have. It's the sadness that comes from fear and lack of prayer. You remember that's kind of what's behind the apostles falling asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane. They're afraid. That has produced with them a sadness. And that has led to a tiredness and a lack of vigilance. So, these have all combined for these two disciples not to be ready to recognize the Lord. And I think this is interesting because it then and of course at the root of that is the realization that they're still looking at things in the old way.
So, Jesus then has a way of teaching them bit by bit, although it's condensed into one journey, so that they will then come to the fullness of the truth. Because unlike say Mary Magdalene or the the women, he doesn't just come alongside them and say and reveal himself to them. He first has to correct what they've been getting wrong. In other words, he is first taking them back and showing them what they needed to know in order to be able to then see clearly. This is the way Jesus so often works with us. Is that and this is something St. Francis de Sales says, well, at least it's assumed in his book, that with most of us, he teaches us gradually. He teaches us gradually. He doesn't just come in and give us a total conversion, like for example, St. Paul or a Mary Magdalene. For most of us, it's a gradual thing because Jesus knows that getting the bases in order is going to be important in the long run. So, he spends time revealing to them the meaning of scripture. So, that when it comes to revealing himself at Emmaus in the breaking of bread, they then see. They then see Jesus in that action. But, now they also coming to that revelation, they have now also understood the truths of scripture because when they go back to tell the others, they remember how their hearts burned within them. So Jesus is constantly teaching the people he appears to how to really get deeper into the risen Lord.
And so we have to tie this then whole thing in with the question of purity of the clarity of vision. Asking do we see him? And what in us stops us seeing him? So if we look at and we switch for a moment to the account that we had last week in the Gospels, the church spent some time on this. The miracles, the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes in John chapter six. Because I think there is again an important role to play in this because there we see in that story and this is why I believe it's given to us in this Easter season, it ties in with this whole theme of learning to see and recognize Jesus. Jesus performed the miracle. He gave them a multiplied the loaves and the fishes. But throughout it what happens after the miracle when they seek to make him king? When they then follow him they walk around the lake to find him again. He's given them an important lesson. Yes, they're looking for Jesus. So again, this is an important point into this whole problem of purity of heart. The crowd were looking for Jesus and at first we could say that's a great and a beautiful thing that they're searching him out. But Jesus tells them that they're still not seeing him properly. "You are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled." In other words, they're not following him for his own sake but for what he gave them. So that raises a point in why we can often fail to see Jesus because we're not looking for him for his own sake but for what he can do to us. I made that mistake although I think it's the way Jesus often works in following the divine will because one of the prime motives of it is the desire for peace. So we can spend our lives if we're honest in what appears to be up to be the loaves we desire. And it can distract us from the true search for Jesus. So things can fill us easily. It's a bit like junk food. I did a a blessing of a garage. It was very beautiful blessing this garage and then there was a whole crowd of us and they persuaded me to go to McDonald's which was very kind and generous of them. It was quite a shock to my system though because McDonald's is the type of food that is very addictive and delicious but doesn't satisfy anything. You know, it has that amazing thing of great appearance but in the end when you look at it is not satisfying. And the great thing about the divine will is that if we're prepared to search for the true bread it satisfies. It gives us strength. It gives us true food for the journey. That's why Jesus says, "Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life."
So I remember in the book Seven Habits for Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey saying that quite often when he was meeting with these very successful people he was saying to them, "You have climbed the ladder, you've reached the top, you're a powerful CEO. But your ladder is against the wrong wall." And that's something we can experience in our life that so often the human will makes us climb a ladder and without reflecting, is it against the right wall?
So the crowd then ask something interesting to Jesus. "Okay, what must we do, Lord, to accomplish the works of God?" So again, the question seems good. What must we do to accomplish the works of God? Just like the man who asked him, you know, "What must I do to inherit the kingdom? What is lacking in me?" But they're kind of saying, "Give me a checklist. Give me an A to Z. Give me something that I can go through that's a good formula and I'll be happy." But Jesus answers them with something even simpler. He says, "This is the work of God that you believe in the one He sent." Believe. What does it mean? It means entrusting our lives to Him. That was the whole purpose well, not the whole purpose, one of the purposes of what the disciples and apostles went through before, during and after the crucifixion was Jesus showing them the simple answer. "Believe in the one whom the Father sent. Believe in me. That's what you have to do." And if you believe in me, you will start to see things clearly. It's a bit like a parent who [clears throat] is trying to persuade their seven or eight year old to go to the dentist. I remember it. I used to hate going to the dentist. Fact, my brothers and I, we were pretty naughty really looking back on it when we'd get to the dentist in the waiting room. But remember the argument of the parents, "Trust me. You know, in the end this is for your good." But if we don't make that step of trust it just doesn't appear that these things are for our own good. And what is happening there is the human will is rebelling against the divine will and saying, "No. I'm not accepting this. This is not the way you do it." That's what Peter is saying to Jesus. His human will is saying, "No, Lord, this isn't going to be the case." Whereas if we believe in Him, if we're not weighing up everything He tells us and then deciding whether we're going to believe in Him, then things work.
So in a strange way we can look at God as a means to an end or Jesus as a means to an end. And there's therefore throughout the Gospels and the resurrection appearances this whole message, "I'm not a means to an end. I'm the way, the truth, and the life. And you must be centered upon me."
I'm going to take a little pause there just to get some water. So if there's any questions at the moment or comments please go ahead. Um, for all you guys know, this could be full of gin and tonic. But it's not. It's just water. Okay.
So, first thing is believing in Jesus. Not weighing up in our own minds is His message worthy of belief. Or we follow Him for what He can give us. Second point in this whole miracle is the danger of asking for signs. They say to Him, "Look, our ancestors, when they're in the desert, they ate manna." Which is a pretty amazing thing, really. It's a pretty amazing thing. And so they're asking Jesus, "Look, what are you going to do? Moses gave us manna. What are you going to do?" And that can be a danger too in not recognizing because what we are saying to Him is, "Lord, fix my problems, sort everything out, remove this discomfort, fix this suffering, sort out everything I need, and then we can start really getting to work." Whereas the simplicity of the divine will is saying to us, "No. Start the opposite way. Get rid of everything, every demand, every worry, every anxiety, and surrender everything in order to be filled with the divine will."
So the crowd, I'm indebted to a friend of mine for this insight, the crowd in John 6 missed the point of what hunger Jesus was talking about. He's talking about a spiritual hunger. They remember the manna in the desert, but not the significance of the manna. You see, we think the manna was primarily to feed them, which of course it did. But the primary meaning of the manna was to trust in God. "If you trust in me, I can provide water in a desert, I can provide meat, I can provide bread." That's what these signs were there for, so that the Jews could really remember that God is worthy of trust, that He's there to be trusted because He will provide. Hence He says, "Whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst." That does not mean, as the crowd were thinking, that life is suddenly going to become easy. That following Christ means that He is going to wipe away every difficulty, and things will be simple. No, what He's saying to us is, "If you trust in me, if you deny yourself, if you give up your human will, you will never hunger and never thirst because I will provide the true food, the true drink, the fountain of living water." And so we need to ask ourselves, what bread are we chasing, and what bread should we be hungry for?
So, to turn for a moment to Luisa, June the 29th, 1934, volume 33. "June the 29th, 1934, volume 33. The divine volition never leaves me alone. It seems to me that it is always looking at me in order to invest my thought, my works, the littlest of my acts. But it wants my attention. It wants that I know that it wants to invest my acts. And looking at each other in turn, it gives and I receive."
So, the divine will, and therefore Jesus too in the Gospels, what He's trying to teach us, is that He's looking at us so that He can fill our thoughts, our works, every little act of ours. And so we see the mistakes made by the disciples and the apostles because that was not happening. They took their eye from Jesus. And therefore they fell. In fact, I can't remember where it is, but in the volumes, uh, Jesus tells Luisa, or is it actually? It might be in the Mary and the Kingdom of the Divine Will, come to think of it, where at that if Peter had not followed his human will, he would not have ended up betraying Jesus.
So in this diary entry, Jesus is telling Luisa, "Look, I want to invest everything. Your acts, even the very smallest. But it does require your attention. That you see." And she goes on. "And if I do not pay attention, it reproves me. But with a way so sweet as to feel my heart break. And it tells me, 'Attention is [clears throat] the eye of the soul that makes known the gift that I want to make her. And disposes the action to receiving my investment. I do not want to give my goods to the blind. I want that you see it and know it. But do you know why? By seeing it, you appreciate my gift. And by knowing it, you understand it, and you love it. And I make you vividly feel my light, my power, my love. And I feel repeating in your little thought, word, and action what my divine will itself knows how to do. How it How it knows how to love. Therefore, the first thing that I do to one who wants to live in it is to give the eye in order to look at each other and know each other. When we are known, everything is done. The living in my divine will is assured with its full vigor.'"
So there's a lot in that. There's this whole theme of eye, the eye of the soul, of seeing, of therefore making known these truths. So if you remember, Jesus said to the apostles, "Stay awake. Be vigilant. Pray." So that is one of the demands in our journey in the divine will, and it is difficult. It's simple, but it's not easy. Is to keep being attentive to the divine will, which seeks to make itself known in everything we're doing. So remember, we It's not a gnostic kind of secret thing, that there's some code, because Jesus says it's all around us. There are no doors, there are no secret paths. It's everywhere, everything around us, everything we're thinking, feeling. But we have to realize and attentive that that's happening. Otherwise it passes us by. We don't recognize the Lord.
"My mind So my mind was lost in a sea of light and of thoughts. And my sweet Jesus surprising me told me, 'Oh my daughter, the living in my will is the living of heaven. It is to feel in the soul the life of light, of love, the life of divine action, the life of prayer. What it does for her. Everything is palpitating life in her acts. You must know that one who does the divine will and lives in it becomes the magnet of the divine acts. Her little motion, thought, and works are magnetic with a magnet so powerful so as to magnify her creator Sorry, to as to magnetize her creator in a way that this magnet attracts him so much that he cannot withdraw from the creature.'"
So in order to see, in order to be pure of heart it's necessary to have this attention to see because it is that desire that is going to purify our heart. So if I turn to the Catechism of the Catholic Church 2519, 2519, the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I'm going to pick it up pick it up one earlier, 2518. "The sixth Beatitude proclaims blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Pure in heart refers to those who have attuned their intellects and wills to the demands of God's holiness."
So Catechism is telling us the essence here in purity of heart which we tend to kind of just focus on um chastity or sexual uprightness but he says it it the pure in heart refers to those who have attuned their intellects and their wills to the demands of God's holiness. So for us pure in heart refers to those who have attuned their intellects to the divine will are attentive and desirous of what it wants to give and have surrendered their wills because that is the demand of God if we wish to be holy. So you can see again in scripture that the divine will teaching does not replace, does not change, but elevates the meaning so that "pure in heart for they shall see God" is very clearly at its height attuning our intellect and our human wills to the demand of God's holiness which is to surrender our will and live in His.
It then says chiefly in three areas: charity, chastity, love of truth and orthodoxy of faith. There is a connection between purity of heart, of body, and of faith. It's very profound that. That they're all connected, the body, the heart, and the faith and of course the will. "The faithful must believe the articles of the creed so that by believing they may obey God." Remember this is what Jesus tells Luisa, the first stage is to desire to obey God, to keep His commandments. "By obeying may live well by living well may purify their hearts and may understand what they believe." That's Saint Augustine. Let me go through that again. So that by believing they may obey God, by obeying may live well, by living well may purify their hearts, and with pure hearts may understand what they believe. So in our language of the divine will, being attentive, that's elevated to us saying that we on our journey may believe so that we start off by desiring to obey God in all things. Then when we've accomplished that, that will end up with us living well, living in the divine will. And by living in the divine will, our hearts will be purified and we will go on to see God.
Now to 2519. "The pure in heart are promised that they will see God face to face and be like him. Purity of heart is the precondition of the vision of God. Even now it tells us to see according to God, to accept others as neighbors. It lets us perceive the human body, ours and our neighbors, as a temple of the Holy Spirit, a manifestation of divine beauty." So again, we see that that this attention to believing and in believing, obeying and in obeying, living well and in living well, purity of heart and in purity of heart, seeing God. And if you then go through and apply that to the Gospels, you will see how often that accounts for the people who do see Jesus and do follow Him and those that don't.
Okay, those that cease to see Him because they can't in the end believe Him whom God sent and therefore they refuse His word. John, first letter of Saint John chapter three verse three. "First letter of Saint John chapter three verse three. See what great love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God." Remember children of the kingdom. And that is what we are. "The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God and what we will be has not yet been made known." Now that's interesting. And what we will be has not yet been made known. Can that I'm throwing this out as a question, can that not only be interpreted? Well, it can be interpreted, of course, at the end of time and the beatific vision, but can that also not be interpreted and what we will be, in other words, the era of the divine will and of peace has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. Now again, primarily that refers to the second coming. When Christ appears in His glory, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. But is that not also true that when Christ appears within us in the era of the kingdom, the era of the divine will, those living in the divine will will be like Him. And although they shan't see Him physically in the risen body as He is, they shall see Him as He is. And what is He? He is someone that obeys the will of the Father and constantly draws everything from the divine will. "All who have this hope, right, that's us. All who have this hope in Him purify themselves just as He is pure."
So this message then, so far we've concentrated as it were on the end. This attentiveness, this goal in being able to see Jesus, to recognize Him, to see Him as He is is crucial then and crucial to our journey, but also the result of our journey. That it it brings that result that once we start surrendering, once we start imitating Him, and what are we imitating in Him? That at every moment of His life, in His human nature, He drew all His strength, courage from the divine will and love of the Father.
So, to finish with, this is something we'll probably have to come back to. One of the great danger, one of the great problems we face in that is to follow this teaching of Jesus and of the divine will, it is necessarily it is necessary to feel trust and security in Him. He is the good shepherd. But we have to really feel first of all, secure in that. If there's elements, anything in us that is still doubting that, whether intentionally or not, that hinders the way we look at Him, the way we look at ourselves and the way we look at others because it means that we are lacking a degree of trust. So, perhaps the journey in the divine will is a constant necessity of growing in trust and in security.
The podcast Restore the Glory have a beautiful episode on purity and they mentioned this very interesting miracle, this is where we'll end, of the blind man in Mark chapter 8, verse 22 to 26. So, they arrived at Bethsaida where a blind man was brought to him with the earnest request that he should touch him. Jesus took the blind man's hand and led him outside the village. Then he moistened his eyes with saliva and putting his hands on him asked, "Can you see at all?" The man looked up and said, "I can see people. They look like trees, only they are walking about." Jesus put his hands on his eyes once more and his sight came into focus. And he recovered and saw everything sharp and clear. And Jesus sent him off to his own house with the words, "Do not even go into the village."
So, very simple account, but like in every miracle, there's a lot we can gain from this that teaches us trust. Notice firstly, Jesus does not cure him straight away. Think about the two men by the side of the road in Matthew or the one man, the blind man Bartimaeus, who were just cured then and then, "Receive your sight." Specially it's unusual because the earnest request was that he should touch him and heal him. But what does Jesus do? He took the blind man's hand and led him outside the village. There he moistened his eyes with saliva, a bit similar to the blind man in John chapter 9, and putting on his hands on him said, "Can you see at all?" Now, notice the stages. He takes him by the hand. A little detail, but remember what that must have meant to the blind man. Imagine, because if you we do not have our sight, when someone leads us, takes us by the hand, we suddenly feel secure. We feel at home. And that was going to be necessary because Jesus is going to take him outside his comfort zone. And led him outside the village. Why is that significant? Because do not surely people who are blind develop certain pathways, certain shops, certain ways of doing things so they become familiar. And when they're familiar, they can find their way around. But this blind man is being taken away from what is familiar to outside of the city, which if you think has many scriptural overtones. Outside the village. Now again, Jesus doesn't automatically cure him. He moistens his eyes with saliva, a bit similar to the blind man in John chapter 9, and putting on his hands on him said, "Can you see at all?" The man looked up and said, "I can see people. They look like trees, only they are walking about." Then Jesus puts his hands on the eyes once again and his sight came into focus. And he recovered and saw everything sharp and clear.
So, what we should learn from this part is sometimes this cure and this healing and this trust take time. We would love Jesus to work a miracle and we see everything 20/20. Just like that. But sometimes, like with Saul, he had to spend three days praying and fasting. This man doesn't see everything totally as it should be. Like he says he sees people, but they kind of look like trees that are walking about. So, we shouldn't be worried or put off when we've been praying for a cure and for healing and it takes its time bit by bit. Because again, going back to Francis de Sales, that is the way Jesus works with most of us.
And then to finish off, he gives him this message. He sends him home. Jesus sent him to his own house with the words, "Do not go even into the village." Now, maybe I'm wrong, but that seems to me to have re-overtones of the kings. The kings returned home, but by a different route. So, why does Jesus tell him him not to go into the village? There could be obvious reasons. He doesn't want fuss, he doesn't want people gathering around, but he might be saying, "Don't go back to your old comfort zone. Don't go back simply to treading the ways that you're familiar with. Don't go back to living by your own will, which gives you some sense of control and some sense of being able to keep everything in order. But go to your own house." But his own house, surely that means more than simply his physical house. He's coming home. He's coming to where he's he's meant to be. And he is now seeing clearly.
So, hopefully that's given you some ideas today about the importance of how to see Jesus, at least given some indications of how to see Jesus, what can hinder us from seeing Jesus, how in the end it is being attentive to the divine will that is going to enable us to see things as they are. Next time, we're going to pick up with looking at how we go about healing those areas where we lack trust and where we lack our true identity as sons and daughters of God. And a particular way of praying to aid us in that.
So, I'm just going to check the chat. Just one little point there, Father. I thought quite interesting when Jesus took him outside the village. And now he can see and told him not to go back into the village. But leaving that poor blind man seeing he wouldn't have a clue where to go because he now he sees, but he didn't see anything before. So, how would he know where to how to get home? Yeah. It sounds like he was putting on him on a totally new road having healed him. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, because he wasn't good. He wouldn't be familiar outside the village, which direction to even go to his own home. Cuz he wouldn't know where they the pathways are or the the surroundings where he was going into something totally new. Just found that a little bit fascinating. I felt sorry for the poor blind man. Where do I go? >> [laughter] >> But at same time, what excitement it must have been for him to truly come home, not simply physically, although that is powerful enough. But yeah, this impact with Jesus has changed him. You know, he's completely different now. He sees as he was created to see. And not as he had been because we can often think that people that were, say, blind or crippled or lame were necessarily good people, totally spiritually poor. I'm not saying in any way that the cause of their illness was sin. No, not at all. But that often we see in other miracles, Jesus is trying to tell the people I'm curing you, but the deeper meaning is, as he said to the other cure, "Go and sin no more." Go and sin no more because that's the end goal of these. That's the end goal. Okay, thanks, Kate. Thanks, everyone again for being with us tonight on this fourth Sunday. I can't remember in America if it's like in England where we need to pray for vocations. Um, a day in England, it's an important day when we remember that. Okay, there's no other messages in >> There's one thing to add, uh, Father Dom, is um, the similarity with the in the parable of the prodigal son. Mhm. With the blind man. So, he came You know, he came to his senses. Mhm. So, he could see and then he returned. So, it's quite There's There's quite a huge parallel with that. Yeah, that would be interesting in a meditation to develop that. Again, seeing in the sense of physical sight and seeing in the sense of knowledge. Yeah. Um, yeah. It's really, if you think about the whole Gospels, the whole Gospel is in the end this simple message of surrender, trust, allow God, draw our power from God and everything then flows. Father, I I also felt that he was saying to him, "Don't follow what they do. Don't go back and do what others are doing in the village, but follow me." Yeah, that's that's certainly a valid a valid way of looking at that. Yeah, Carolyn.
Okay, let's end with prayer.
So, heavenly Father, you created us to know, to love, and to serve You. So, we wish to thank You for all Your teaching throughout time, from the very beginning You taught us for the creation of light in Genesis all the way through the Old Testament, Your public ministry, Your hidden years. We wish to make all that teaching our own. And we wish to give thanks on behalf of every soul for this teaching and to make reparation as Your Mother asked us on this very day in her teaching, the 26th of the month, for all those that would not accept the divine teaching, all those that resisted, didn't walk with Him, rejected Him, we want to make reparation for. And we give You thanks for revealing to us, mere children, these truths that You seemed for Your good purposes at the moment to have veiled from many. And we pray then for the coming of the kingdom as soon as it will. We ask You to hasten that and to mitigate and make lighter any of the purifications, any of the chastisements that You are coming. We pray for all souls that they truly see, that they see things with the eyes of God. And may the Lord grant you in America a quiet remaining of the day and in England and Europe a quiet night. May His blessing come upon you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Thank you, Father.