Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (18: 35-43) in which Jesus heals a blind man’s sight while approaching Jericho.

The gospel today tells us that Jesus has arrived in Jericho. This is the last stop before Jesus goes to Jerusalem to suffer and die.

Today we hear about the blind man by the road and when the blind man cries out to Jesus, we hear that his shouts bother the people that are with Jesus. Their reaction to his shouts is to tell the blind man to be quiet. But the blind man shouts all the louder and we now see the reaction of Jesus and that is to say to the people who just tried to keep him quiet to bring the blind man to Jesus.

Jesus then asks the man a question – what do you want me to do for you? The blind man wants to see again and because of his faith Jesus cures the man. Once the healing is done the man now walks with Jesus along the road to Jerusalem and in this way, he becomes a model disciple for us.

Faith then is a force that can transform a person.

In closing, Fr Paul asks us to reflect, Do I have faith in Jesus like the blind man?