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Word To Life
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Sunday Scripture Readings, Oct. 25, 2009
By Jeff Hensley
Catholic News Service
October 25, Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle B Readings:
1) Jeremiah 31:7-9
Psalm 126:1-6
2) Hebrews 5:1-6
Gospel) Mark 10:46-52
Pretty soon retailers will leapfrog over Halloween and Thanksgiving and add the familiar red and green of Christmas decorations. For Catholics, it's just a reminder of the approach of the season of Advent, the season that sharpens our hunger for the coming of our Lord Jesus in the form of a child.
That hunger, for me, is the fascinating part of this weekend's Gospel reading. The blind man Bartimaeus cries out as Jesus passes by and is hushed by those around him, who rebuke him and tell him to be silent. But he persists, so great is his hunger.
Jesus stops and has Bartimaeus brought to him from among the crowd. The blind man had been shouting to him, "Jesus, son of David, have pity on me." Once he is before him, Jesus asks this man a rather remarkable question: "What do you want for me to do for you?"
Bartimaeus' reply is just as remarkable: "Master, I want to see." He didn't ask for sight simply to make his life better, but in order to see the one he had already identified as the son of David, correctly describing Jesus' lineage as a proof that he was the Messiah. Jesus tells him in response, "Go your way; your faith has saved you."
Scripture tells us Bartimaeus immediately "received his sight and followed him on the way."
Advent is a time of hunger and a time to renew and re-form our faith with our sense of Jesus present in his world. Thousands in my own diocese are beginning the "Why Catholic?" program with the first six-week season corresponding, roughly, with the season of Advent. They will seek the face of Jesus in the Scriptures and teachings of the church, through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and in the workings of God in their own lives and the lives of the body of Christ represented in the people in their small study groups.
Others will seek the face of Jesus through serving the poor, or by intensifying their love for their spouses and children, or by increasing their time in Scripture study and prayer.
May we all take courage from the example of Bartimaeus, remembering the generous response of Jesus to all those who seek him in faith.
QUESTIONS:
Have you made a plan for spiritual renewal for Advent? If you haven't, what local programs of study, service or worship might help you in personally seeking the face of Jesus?
SCRIPTURE TO BE ILLUSTRATED:
"The blind man replied to him, 'Master, I want to see'" (Mark 10:51b).
END
Copyright © 2009 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS Word To Life column may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
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