Friday of the
Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
(I Corinthians 9:16-19; Luke 6:39-42)
In Frederico Fellini’s film memoir Amarcord all the townspeople including a blind man go to the bay to
welcome a luxury liner. When the vessel
comes into sight the blind man feels the excitement of the crowd and exclaims,
“I can see it! I can see it!” The people
have conveyed to him not just the appearance of the liner but its magnificence
in the bay on a balmy summer night. In
the gospel today Jesus exhorts his disciples to prepare themselves to give
similar testimony.
Faith, we may say, is a new way of seeing. It transcends
our limitations. Like the blind man "seeing" the luxury cruiser, faith
allows us to perceive what is invisible to the eye. It tells us that we are loved with greater
intensity than we can imagine. It
assures us that our struggle to follow Christ has eternal value. Somehow we must convey these realities to
those who think that only what their hand can touch has existence.
We give testimony to faith by both saying and doing. Publicly thanking God for the benefits we
receive reminds others of His existence.
Forgiving others’ faults testifies to His love.
