December 5, 2025, Friday of the First Week of Advent
Lectionary #179, Matthew 9: 27-31

Scripture
As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying out, “Son of David, have pity on us!” When he entered the house, the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they said to him. Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” But they went out and spread word of him through all that land.

Reflection
Reading the gospels for any length of time in one sitting, one is struck with the image of Christ as a pursued man. Sought out is not the word. Stalked, tracked, and trailed would be more appropriate. This rabbi could really heal and cure. People who couldn’t walk began jumping up and down; people who couldn’t talk began speaking. People whose blood gushed out in streams stopped bleeding.

Bartimaeus had to scream after Christ, and the two blind men in our reading “came after him, crying out, `Son of David, have pity on us!'” Apparently, the Lord did not hear them for a while. “When he got to the house, the blind men caught up with him.” Here was someone who could restore sight, and he was passing through the area, and they were determined not to miss him.

Upon reading the gospel, one is also left with the impression that all those who asked to be healed got better. Whenever Christ was stricken with pity, he responded to that call to pity. He passed through one village after another, and people expected him, waited for him, did not want to miss him. They were not only impressed with his power over illness but also with what he had to tell them, as well as by his manner of speaking. If they were hale of mind and body, they received something for the spirit. They heard the truth when He spoke of God the Father, of God’s kindness, and endless forgiveness.
In all he said and did, Christ had one purpose in mind, one single overriding goal: to reveal the Father. He was the revelation of the Father. And this Father had the heart to heal and cure and speak marvelous words of comfort and truth. Christ revealed a God who wanted, very much enjoyed, to be present to people, both in the individuality of their suffering and in their shared community.

Healing, speaking with people and to them, eating and feasting with them, rejoicing and suffering with them, Christ was telling individuals and crowds that this was the type of God that had made them and whom they were now serving. No wonder they ran after Christ, after healing and faith and mercy and forgiveness. They were running after God.
Mary at La Salette came to imitate her Son in what he had done and to share his mission. She showed the world the suffering of an abandoned Lord. She revealed, if it had to be revealed, that in some mysterious way, God grieves and weeps for people. It is nothing less than stirring to see that at La Salette, the Lord wanted to let us know that God is indeed caring for his people to the point of tears.

The children, Maximin and Mélanie, whose acquaintance with God was at best a nodding one, knew all this instinctively. The two blind men pursued Christ, and the children ran up the hillock after the Lady as she was about to disappear. They did not want her to leave. In a single half-hour, they had learned to love her. And thus it is with all who run after Him with open hearts. They run after God until God captures them.

La Salette Invocation
Our Lady of La Salette, reconciler of sinners,
pray without ceasing for us who have recourse to you.