Let’s have the faith of the blind men

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

“AS Jesus passed from thence, there followed him two blind men crying out and saying, Have mercy on us, O Son of David.” (Mt 9,27)

This part of the gospel reminds us that we have to have a strong faith to get the attention and favor of God. We need to develop that kind of faith, which is first of all a gift from God but which we not only have to receive gratefully but also to cultivate, as best that we can, to its most mature state.

In this regard, we have to imitate the example of the two blind men who begged Christ for a cure of their blindness. Obviously, we have to first of all acknowledge our own blindness with respect to the spiritual and supernatural realities that govern our life.

Our main problem is that we often fail to acknowledge this fact of life, especially when we happen to be gifted with high intelligence and other talents. With such condition, we fail to realize that our intelligence and will, our talents and the other gifts God has endowed us, are actually meant to enable us to enter into the spiritual and supernatural world, and ultimately to God. We are actually poised for that purpose.

When we use our faculties to engage only with the natural things, we would actually be misusing them. That’s when we become very vulnerable to all kinds of anomalies and irregularities. We would have no ample defenses against the usual weaknesses and temptations we have in this world.

In fact, we can say that we are more blind the more gifted we are, because this latter status usually sheds some light that blinds us rather than clarifies things for us. It tends to take us away from God rather than lead us to him.

With respect, for example, to the knowledge we have accumulated so far through our study of things in this world, let’s hope that we can echo what was attributed to Socrates, i.e., that “the more I know, the more I realize that I know nothing.” These Socratic words somehow also find basis on some words of St. Paul who said: “The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.” (1 Cor 8,2).

And that’s because a knowledge that is not guided or enlightened by faith is a knowledge that does not lead to charity. It leads to pride, vanity and arrogance instead. Again, St. Paul in this regard said: “Knowledge puffs up, but charity builds up.” (1 Cor 8,1)

If our worldly knowledge does not make our faith in God grow stronger, it would be a dangerous kind of knowledge. We have to correct and purify it immediately, giving it the right motive and purpose which is none other than to give glory to God. Otherwise, it would be knowledge that would simply be at the service of our self-indulgence.

And when that knowledge cannot cope anymore with the challenges of our life, that’s when we would enter into all kinds of anomalies and irregularities leading us to issues of mental health, depression, and all kinds of justifications to rationalize acts and positions that usually are considered by our common sense as perversions.

We need to pause from time to time to recover the proper bearing that would urge us to acknowledge our blindness despite our vast knowledge and to always beg with faith for the light that comes from God.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com