God changes lives even when people think nothing can be changed

On 27 January 2013, the 31st Sunday after Pentecost, the evangelical pericope of Saint Evangelist Luke, chapter 18, 35-43, on the healing of the Blind beggar of Jericho was read in all Orthodox churches.
In the sermon delivered in the chapel of “Saint Gregory the Enlightener” of the Patriarchal Residence, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church emphasised the teaching of the evangelical pericope the Church scheduled for this Sunday: “Although very short, today’s Gospel has many useful spiritual meanings both for the life of the Church and for that of every Christian. First of all we see in this Gospel the merciful love of God who was made man out of love for men. Then, we see the ardent love and much effort in prayer of the blind beggar of Jericho”.

Sometimes the Saviour asks for the faith expressed freely by those who pray Him for healing or help

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel showed that the blind beggar healed at Jericho becomes an example of strong faith and persistent prayer: “The moment he learned Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, he did not ask who Jesus of Nazareth was. Maybe because he had heard about Jesus of Nazareth healing lots of sick, and raising lots of people from sins and enlightening the lives of many people lost and confused. So, he knew that Jesus of Nazareth was the man by which God made wonders. In other words, his strong faith was that only Jesus of Nazareth in whom the power of God was working could heal him, and give him what nobody could, namely the sight of his eyes. This is why having understood that Jesus was his only chance to see, he asked for Jesus’ mercy, namely merciful love, to heal his blindness and release him from the bondage of his helplessness. Although he could not see, this blind beggar from Jericho had a spiritual sight, namely he could see through his faith”.

Faith must be nourished through the relationship with God as living relationship, but the most vivid relationship of faith is the prayer

The Gospel also shows us the long persistence in prayer, His Beatitude said, showing that: “This one is very important for the growth of faith. Faith must be nourished through the relationship with God as vivid relationship, but the most vivid relationship of faith is the prayer. When praying, God does not remain somewhere far away, but He becomes present in the human’s life. Some Holy Fathers say that prayer is the very work of God in the man’s soul which brings about the relationship of rapprochement and cooperation with God in man. So, prayer is the expression of faith and source of strengthening in faith. If man has, in general, only a theoretical faith, he thinks that God exists; this faith is not full because faith is a relationship, too, with the One Holy God, the source of life and salvation.  Thus, not only an intellectual conviction is seen in prayer, but also a relationship of communication and communion with God”.

The Saviour does not consider disease as something natural, and He is sensitive to the sufferance of the sick man and wants man to live in good health and joy

“The Gospel also shows us the attitude of certain people towards the sick one, born blind, beggar at the edge of the road. When the blind man heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by he started shouting, and those around tried to stop him thinking that the blind one was asking the Saviour for food or money because they did not think he could ask Jesus to give him something else than food and money. They did not think that his healing was possible because they had got used to the sickness of the man born blind. It had become natural. It had become, in a way, a fatality that could not be avoided. But the Saviour does not consider sickness as something natural, as a fatality, but He is sensitive to the sufferance of the sick man and wants the man to live in good health and joy. He wants him to see the faces of his fellow beings, to admire God’s creation, to understand the mystery of life fully, by sight”, the Patriarch of Romania also said.

The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church showed that, in today’s evangelical pericope, we see a difference between those who suffer and those who do not: “The blind man was crying loudly because he was suffering. Those around him did not understand him because they were not feeling his sufferance, because they got used too much to his sufferance to feel it as their sufferance. This is why we see that in a way both Jesus Christ, our Saviour, and the blind man healed at Jericho become an urge for us to get our good health, to try to get the integrity of the gifts received from God or at least to give a meaning to their sufferance without wrongly thinking that sickness is something natural or sufferance a fatality”.

God changes lives even when people think that nothing can be changed any more

We must learn from the blind man healed at Jericho that we must insist in prayer, and strengthen ourselves in faith when we pray for healing us or those around us, His Beatitude said, point out the fact that: “This blind man shows us that God changes lives even when people think that nothing can be changed, that nothing can be done for a new stage in a human life. In other words, the Gospel urges us to insistently try to get the gift of life and good health for us and for those around us. So, Jesus Christ, our Saviour, the Doctor of our souls and bodies also encourages all those who take care of the sick. Very often the diagnosis of certain physicians was based on limited knowledge, having been negative. But some of the sick ones did not put up with the negative diagnostic of the physicians or with the sentence that they had only a few months to live, but they changed things through their prayer, through that of their family, of the Church, and lived many years more, not only a few months, and felt the work of God in their lives which is much more than a simple medical treatment.”

To end with his speech, the Patriarch of Romania said: “God made and will make wonders for those with strong insistent faith and much lowliness, self confidence and devotion, meaning that they leave everything in God’s hands, who can make wonders, who overcomes the human decayed nature.”

Next week, the Orthodox Christians will be on the 32nd Sunday after the Pentecost, Zacchaeus’ Sunday.

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