Believing is seeing
“I will console them and guide them; I will lead them to brooks of water on a level road, so that none shall stumble.”
The Lord’s words through the prophet Jeremiah brought such comfort to the people of his day and to us. God delivered his people, the remnant of Israel from exile into faith and belonging. Many of us can relate to times of exile—isolation—a lack of security–belonging.
Some exile experiences might be illness, relocation to a new town/city, disappointments in our life goals, the loss of a job, the loss of a home, the limitations some feel with aging—entering a new school, or the loss of a loved one. Any experience that causes us to feel we are in “strange territory” or “away from home…uprooted” often causes us to feel disconnected from life itself.
So often in our lives we need words of comfort, to know that God has not abandoned us, that our suffering will somehow find relief. Some of us suffer from injuries we have inflicted upon ourselves—harboring resentment toward another. Some of us suffer from the way we have been treated by others. Some of us suffer from ailments caused by no one—that result from the human conditions in life, like heart problems, or cancer– caring for a relative with Alzheimer Disease.
While feeling alienated we may also feel as if our family doesn’t care, no one seems to notice us, or we don’t want to bother them with our problems “they have enough of their own”– we can become so despondent with our problems and wonder where we can possibly turn. God speaks to us in those places of exile and assures us that we are not forgotten. God will search us out and lead us back. How does God do all this— through one another? Too simple an answer, you may say, but we also know it is true from life experiences.
The witness of faith includes witnessing the love of God in our lives, and that witness is extended by the way we help one another—especially in times of alienation, illness, grief, struggling with life issues. God’s comfort comes through one another—above all when we see faith in God in one another—we see God here with us.
Such faith is expressed in our gospel today. How many of us would love to hear the words that Jesus spoke to Bartimaeus who was blind?
“Go your way; your faith has saved you.”
What powerful words of healing, reconciliation and compassion. Jesus passes by and says “Have faith in me—I am with you.”
Bartimaeus reverses the cliché that seeing is believing; for him, believing is seeing. Witnessing faith as a sign of being saved by Jesus is a part of what we will be celebrating starting next Sunday with the Solemnity of All Saints. Then Monday will be the remembrance of All Souls. These commemorations are foundational as an expression of our belief and as our witness of hope in Christ. We remember All Saints who come from everywhere, and not only those in our Canon, but all who lived a life of God and Christ in their love of humanity here on earth. In God’s call to sainthood, there are neither favorite places nor times, nor favorite saints, all are made equal in rank, no one has a head start on others. Everyone is called to holiness, and sainthood is open to everyone.
While our All Saints celebration seems more celebratory than The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day) because we remember loved ones we have lost. However both remembrances are really about life and love in the human realm gone home to the eternal life in Christ. It is the fullness of the circle of life that God has deigned as gift for those who have faith. It is about your life, my life, the life of people we remember, the spiritual life that ties us together and the eternal life of the Lord. If they have been a blessing to us, we thank the Lord for the gift of their lives. If they had been a burden to us we forgive them through our prayers, which can help our healing process, and rely on the mercy of God to welcome them to eternal peace.
We are a spiritual community that knows no death because we draw our life from the Lord. The solemnity of All Saints and feast of All Souls empower us to strengthen the bonds of this spiritual community. Although there is a sense of separation with the loved ones who have gone before us there is also the sense of unity knowing that the great love of Christ bridges all love and keeps us all one in him, may our eyes see that love in one another. Or as one of the many lessons of the gospel for today teaches, may we join Bartimaeus and pray: “Master I want to see.”
We need to see—the goodness in one another, how blessed we are in our faith, and the gift of being a part of this faith family in the here and now and joined to all the saints and souls in the love of Christ celebrating life into eternity.
Sacred blessings, Fr. Gordon