Reaching out to God no matter what!
The Sunday of the Blind is the sixth Sunday in the season of Great Lent and brings us into the final two weeks of our Lenten Journey. Bartimaeus (the blind man) from today’s Gospel can teach us many things. We can sometimes fall in to the trap of thinking the things we lack can prohibit us or exclude us from being happy or from reaching out to God and being close with him; Bartimaeus shows us otherwise. Despite being blind and cast off to the roadside, Bartimaeus was not afraid to use what he had to seek out Jesus; using his ears to hear that Jesus was near then using his voice to call out to him. Bartimaeus also teaches us to be courageous; when the people tried to silence him, he ignored them and continued to cry out, asking for Jesus to show him mercy.
In today’s world more than ever, we have many people in opposition to our faith and try to stop us from calling Jesus’ name; however, like Bartimaeus we are called to be courageous and fearless in acknowledging Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. In calling out to Jesus, Bartimaeus showed incredible faith, knowing with certainty that Jesus would stop and help him, he had faith Jesus would bring him to the Harbour of Salvation. As we journey towards Hosanna Sunday and Passion Week, we ask the Lord to remain with us and guide us as we journey towards the Harbour of Salvation.
This week has been another busy one at a parish level with our Stewardship committee meeting on Monday and our Seniors committee also having their fortnightly gathering and activities on Thursday. On Wednesday, the Sodalities led by Fr Youwakim continued with their weekly Lenten lunch in the presence of His Excellency Bishop Antoine-Charbel Tarabay, presenting him with two donations from the money that they raised at these lunches. One to take with him to Egypt to help the Christian Churches in May and one to MaroniteCare. Our Youth also took time away from their everyday lives whilst on their retreat this weekend; a thank you to Fr Raphael, Sr Margaret and Subdeacon Charbel for leading them on the retreat. As we know, next Sunday is Hosanna Sunday and I encourage you to take the Program which will detail all the Mass times and spiritual events of Passion Week beginning on Hosanna Sunday through to New Sunday.
I pray you have a blessed week.
