My good friends, I will begin today with four lines from Scripture for this 30^th Sunday in Ordinary Time:

• Psalm 146—“God has done great things for us; we are truly glad.”
• Jeremiah speaks of our loving God—“I will gather them from the ends of the earth…the blind, lame, expectant mothers and women in labor—I am forever a mother and father to Israel.”
• Hebrews—the writer speaks of the high priest that God has appointed to be there for the people and deal with the things of God.
• Mark—in this gospel, Jesus asks a wonderful question of the blind man—“What do you want me to do for you?”

   All of the above my friends, can guide us in our spiritual journeys, toward keeping a balance in our lives—”what is mine/yours to do?”—as St. Francis of Assisi asked of himself, and his followers, to better life not only for myself, but for others.  I had the opportunity this past week to view a film about the Berrigan brothers, Dan and Phil, entitled, Devout and Dangerous.  As you may recall, these two began their adult lives as Catholic priests, Dan a Jesuit, and Phil, a Josephite priest.  Dan remained active throughout his life, as a priest, even though sanctioned many times by the hierarchy of the Church, while Phil chose to marry and have children with his wife, Elizabeth McAllister, a former nun.  They were both excommunicated on their wedding day!

   Dan, at one time in his ministry, and much of that work involved speaking vehemently against nuclear buildup in our country and around the world, asked this question of the bishops and others in spiritual leadership, “How can you preach the gospel, and remain silent?”  For this activity in the world, besides being sanctioned often by his Church, he was jailed countless times.

   The way that the Berrigans, and this included Elizabeth McAllister,  chose to live out their commitments to their brother Jesus in their earthly lives was not something that many of us could do.  Actor Martin Sheen, a Catholic himself, who supported their work for disarmament, said as much, “I wish I could be like them.”  I find myself “convicted” by Dan’s question of [am I] “preaching the gospel when I remain silent?”  That is why you will always hear me advocating that we, “check the fruits” before we act. In Dan’s later life, he softened somewhat by saying basically, that you don’t have to complete the task, “start small, [even] stay small.”

   “Gratitude” is a virtue uplifted up in the prayer of the psalmist in 146 today.  “God has done great things for us; we are truly glad.”  Gratitude seems to be implied here for the chance each of us has in life to not only enjoy it, for ourselves and our loved ones, but to share the gifts we may have with those who have less. 

   Our “Christian walk” does implore us to do our best to “see” others and their worth.  Dan Berrigan once said, and I paraphrase, when I walk down the street, I try to think of each person as a “bead on my rosary, [someone] valuable and to be treasured.” 

   Jeremiah, in today’s first reading speaks of our loving God as One who will “gather” everyone,  as a mother and father, and that this will be done with mercy. In today’s second reading from Hebrews, we see this idea of “gathering” continued in the sense of the “high priest” being there to guide the people.  In both readings, from the prophet Jeremiah, and in the gospel from Mark, we see the issue of “blindness” addressed.  We know that one can suffer from “blindness” in several ways; physical, emotional, and spiritual, and these Scriptures call us to look at the “blindness” we may see in our world—in all ways. 

   Bartimaeus was definitely suffering from physical blindness—his own, but given the mores of the society in Jesus’ and his own time, we could probably agree that he suffered from the emotional and spiritual blindness of others in their reactions to him. 

   Bartimaeus’ family, friends, and acquaintances no doubt saw his physical blindness as punishment for some sin in his life, a common belief at the time.  His cry-out to Jesus’ question of, “what do you want me to do for you?” was also it would seem, an imploring that Jesus take away all of his and others’ “blindness,”—“God, I just want to see,” to have some fullness in life! 

   Bartimaeus’ statement is one that we might all pray in these troubling times in our country and world—one that seems to have lost the value of truth-telling, and basic decency—in a world that too often chooses conflict and war, over diplomacy, to the detriment of its innocent victims.  God, we just want to see—to find our way—to do our part.  Show us perhaps what we are missing.  Dan and Phil Berrigan spoke of always, “checking themselves against the gospels.”  We can only imagine when the hierarchy of our Church came up with the “just war” theory,  they weren’t checking that statement against the gospels.  We have probably all heard, a time or two in the past, the prophet Isaiah’s words, (2:4) “beat your swords into plowshares…”

   So my friends, lots to think on and pray about, and so, I’d like to close with the following lines from The Talmud, the body of Jewish civil and ceremonial law—something our brother Jesus would have been very familiar with. I have shared these words before, but thought they bear repeating:

Do not be daunted, by the enormity of the world’s grief.

Do just[ice] now.

Love mercy, now.

Walk humbly, now

You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it. 

Let us come together friends, all, to make our world, and its people, all that it, and we can be to the glory of God who loved us so much, in the beginning, and now.  Amen? Amen!