Reflection 340: Being Tested
It may not be immediately pleasant, but at times we greatly benefit from being tested. The Lord permits this in a variety of ways. Being tested is not a temptation; rather, it’s a way that the Lord allows us to endure a trial so as to invite us to more deeply submit to His holy Will. When you feel a trial come your way, the best thing you can do is to get down on your knees and pray, “Lord, may Your Divine Will be done in all things! I submit fully to whatever You desire!” What a perfect prayer, especially when prayed in the context of a trial. This prayer will enable you to pass the test (See Diary #1648).
How do you react when you are faced with a trial in life? Do you despair? Or do you get down on your knees and surrender your life to God? Ponder this and resolve to surrender in all things so that you will pass every test in life.
Lord, I do surrender to You my whole being. Take all that I am and all that I hope to be. All is Yours, Lord. Do with me as You will, when You will and how You will. Jesus, I trust in You.
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𝐈̲ ̲𝐖̲𝐚̲𝐧̲𝐭̲ ̲𝐭̲𝐨̲ ̲𝐒̲𝐞̲𝐞̲
October 27, 2024
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
𝐴𝑠 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐽𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐ℎ𝑜 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑑, 𝐵𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑒𝑢𝑠, 𝑎 𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑛, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑒𝑢𝑠, 𝑠𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑂𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑁𝑎𝑧𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑡ℎ, ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑦, “𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠, 𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐷𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑑, ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑒.” Mark 10:46–47
Imagine the humiliation you might experience if your only way to survive each day was to sit on the side of the road and beg. As a blind man at that time, Bartimaeus was not able to work and support himself. Many saw his blindness as a curse from God and the result of his sin or the sins of his parents. He would have been treated as an outcast of society and as a burden to his family and community. Thus, the mental and emotional trauma a blind person experienced at that time would have been just as difficult to deal with as the physical blindness itself.
The symbolism in this story is extraordinary and teaches us many things about our Christian journey. First, we must strive to identify with Bartimaeus’ humility and weakness. On a spiritual level, we are all blind and, in our fallen natural state, we are spiritual outcasts. This means that we cannot attain Heaven by ourselves. Bartimaeus is a symbol of our fallen natural state. We need to humble ourselves every day and see ourselves as people in dire need who are incapable of saving our own souls.
Bartimaeus is also a symbol of what we must do in order to be drawn out of the blindness and misery we experience in life. The moment he heard that Jesus was walking by, he cried out for mercy. But he didn’t just cry out to our Lord. He did so with perseverance. The people who heard him crying out rebuked him and told him to stop. But their rebukes only led him to be more fervent in his prayer. Also, it appears that Jesus ignored him at first. Why would Jesus do that? It certainly wasn’t because Jesus didn’t care. It was because our Lord knew that Bartimaeus would persevere and He wanted him to do so. Jesus wanted Bartimaeus’ prayer to become more resolute, and it did.
The prayer of Bartimaeus must become the way we pray. It is very easy to become discouraged in life and to lose hope. When that happens, our prayer becomes weak and ineffective. At times, we will experience many other temptations to give up on prayer. The rebukes by the crowd are a symbol of the many temptations we will experience to give up on prayer.
When those temptations come, we must double our effort and strengthen our resolve. Jesus’ silence at first must also be seen as an invitation to pray with greater faith. If we pray and feel as though God is not listening, we must know that God does hear us and His initial silence is His way of inviting us closer and to a deeper level of faith and prayer...
Finally, Bartimaeus’ prayer was perfect. “Master, I want to see.” Spiritually speaking, we must work to foster the deepest desire to see God, to see our Lord. If we desire the gift of faith, the ability to see spiritual truths and understand them, then our Lord will answer that prayer. Our Lord will also say to us, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.”
Reflect, today, upon this poor blind beggar, Bartimaeus. See in his humble soul a model of how you must see yourself and of how you must pray. Observe the humility of your fallen state, the isolation you experience from your sin, and the perseverance you need to have in prayer. Follow the example of Bartimaeus, and our Lord will remove the blindness of your heart so that you can follow Him more fully every day.
𝘔𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘣𝘺 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬, 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘨𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳. 𝘔𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘻𝘦𝘢𝘭. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥. 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥. 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴, 𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘠𝘰𝘶.
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