30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

30 ^th Sunday in Ordinary Time
 
I love Bartimaeus in the Gospel reading today. He was a blind man of Jericho. He spent his days wandering around in his blindness. He was totally dependent on the good people of Jericho to survive. What could he hope for, ever? His greatest wish was to get his sight back. Then he heard that the famous Rabbi, a faith healer was walking by. There was a parade of pilgrims heading for Jerusalem and someone identified the famous Rabbi in the crowd. This was Bartimaeus’s chance. He shouted and he shouted and he shouted. “Son of David, have pity on me.” As a result of it Jesus came over to him. They had their little talk and Jesus gave him back the gift of sight. What a lovely ending for Bartimaeus. Sometimes I think we have to shout at Jesus. I was inspired recently watching the movie, “The Darkest Hour.” This is a movie about Winston Churchill and the invasion of Britain by the Nazis. There is a line in the movie that spoke to me. Winston spoke about his father, “My father was like God, busy elsewhere.” That is how it feels sometimes. It feels like God is busy elsewhere. Sometimes I wonder if God is even listening to me at all. I pray to God about my situation. I feel desperate. God is my only chance for relief. Sometimes I have to shout and shout and shout until God replies. Churchill was also speaking to a bunch of Schoolboys in one of those privileged schools. We can apply his words to praying, “Never give in – never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” So you keep going Bartimaeus.
I do love the scripture from Jeremiah. He invites the people to proclaim their praise, “The Lord has delivered His people, the remnant of Israel.” I have always loved reading about the remnant of Israel. Properly, using biblical language, the remnant of Israel was called the Anawim. These  were the poor of every sort: the vulnerable, the marginalized, and socio-economically oppressed, those of lowly status without earthly power. In fact, they depended totally on God for whatever they owned. The Hebrew word  anawim means those who are bowed down. In every generation of the Church we have the anawim. When everybody else went away the remnant stayed. They remained loyal and true when everyone else walked away. Our Church is under attack and strain today because of all those allegations that are coming forth from Philadelphia and absolutely elsewhere. This is a test of our Church. Many will leave the Church because they can’t live with this reality. The Anawim will stay and keep on praying. Sometimes that is all we can do. Hopefully Jesus is passing by. Hopefully God is listening.
With love, Fr. Pat