Every Sunday, over at CatholicMom.com, we offer fun activities related to the Sunday liturgy of the word. For the next few weeks, as a means of reminding you about them, I'm going to post the links here for you. A special thanks to Laura and Elyse, two special angels, who help me to compile these resources!
This weekend, I felt a little bit like Abraham in Sunday's first reading. I was preoccupied by the weekend absence of my eldest son, and felt like I was bombarding God with my prayer requests.
Please keep them safe on the bus. Please help him to meet some great kids and find a few new friends. Please let his heart be touched. Please help him to follow all of the rules. Please let him remember to brush his teeth. Please bring him home soon...
You get the point, I was being a pest! I was feeling distracted in Mass when it came time for the readings. I tried to quietly calm my heart to truly hear them. That first reading, where Abraham keeps asking God over and over if he will spare Sodom if there are even a few good people in town, really hit home. Then the gospel reading came along and Jesus ensured me that it was OK to be so persistent in my prayer. With his disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray, He offered them the perfect formula for prayer. He then gave those wonderful words of hope and encouragement for all of the prayer pests like me:
“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. "
Isn't it wonderful to have a God who loves us so much! Although His answers to my persistent prayers may not always be as immediate or as directed as I would like, I intend to keep knocking with the full confidence that His love for me is boundless and that even one mom's prayers are heard and known.
It's been a while since I reminded you here about the many activities and resources we offer at CatholicMom.com to help prepare your family for Sunday's liturgy of the word. Each week, we have coloring pages, crossword puzzles, word searches, Mass worksheets for two different age groups, and a complete lesson plan prepared by a super teacher. These activities are being downloaded and shared with kids all over the world. I also wanted to share a link to a wonderful column by Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio, one of my favorite theologians, who writes eloquently about Sunday's gospel passage.
At mass this morning, our retired Pastor offered a wonderful homily on today's Gospel - now that I can no longer see to read without my glasses, I feel an even greater empathy towards Bartimaeus. How incredible it would feel to have perfect sight restored, especially after having lived a lifetime without vision.
Our homily this morning dealt with Spiritual Blindness. I walked away from Mass pondering Monsignor's words and asking myself a few pointed questions. Do I ask for healing from the moments of spiritual blindness that fill my life? I am spiritually blind when I neglect to stop and appreciate God's many blessings in my life. I am spiritually blind when I overlook those around me who are suffering through stress, pain, loneliness or other afflictions. I am spiritually blind when I envy my friends or covet material goods. Have I asked Jesus lately to have pity on me, to touch me, and to heal me from my spiritual blindness?
Opportunities to open my eyes and truly see God around me abound - Just as clarity comes when I don my reading glasses, I pray for a heart and mind open to see God's blessings in my own life and to reach out to those around me who may need me.
May I have open, seeing eyes and a heart to truly follow Jesus.
