Our most gracious Lord, Who, out of the excess of His charity, came down from the Father’s Bosom for our salvation, knowing that the time of His Passion was at hand, prepared Himself for it by going up to Jerusalem, where He was to suffer it. At that time, by His Divinity, He predicted it ; but He was not understood. When, then, He drew near to Jericho, a certain blind man,1 who sat and begged by the wayside, who was told by the crowd that Jesus was passing by, began to cry out loudly for mercy; and, although he was rebuked by the crowd, he was not abashed and would not hold his peace. To his faith and fervour the Lord Jesus gave heed, and commanded him to be led to Him, and said to him, “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee ?” O most sweet utterance ! “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee ?” And the blind man said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” And the merciful Lord granted his petition, saying, “Receive thy sight.” And He healed him. Contemplate the Lord Jesus as He thus acted, and dwell upon His graciousness.
Give your thoughts also, in this place, to the power of faith and of prayer, and how importunity in prayer does not displease God ; on the contrary, He delights in it, as you have seen in the case of the woman of Canaan. And in this place Christ teaches that “men ought always to pray and not to faint,”2 illustrating this truth by the conduct of a judge from whom a widow obtained her request through importunity. Elsewhere He gives another instance, in the case of one who granted loaves3 at night through the importunity of the petitioner. Then, to those who persevere in prayer, our Lord grants their petitions when they seek that which is right and just from God, so that to each He says, “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?” and then He does it. Yes, indeed, often He does more than we ask, or venture to ask of Him, as in the instance of Zacchaeus,4 of whom we shall treat presently. Therefore, you have it as a certainty, that whatsoever you faithfully and perseveringly ask of God you shall obtain. Neither ought you to be ashamed, for neither the blind man, nor the Canaanite, nor Zacchaeus, were ashamed to ask favours of God; and they obtained them. So neither ought we to be ashamed of the service of God, and to lay aside our sin, and to seek from God necessary graces. For to have bashfulness and shame, appertains either to great virtue or to great vice. Of which S. Bernard says,5 “There is a shame which bringeth sin, and there is a shame which bringeth glory. Good is the shame which hinders you from sinning, or which you feel on account of having sinned. And although no human judge be present, yet will you more chastely revere the Divine Presence when you consider how infinitely more pure God is than man, and that He is the more deeply offended by the sinner, because sin is something so alien to Himself. A shame of this kind does doubtless chase away reproach and bring glory ; seeing that it will not admit sin on any terms, or, if it has been allowed, expels it by repenting of it and confessing it ; for our glory is this, the testimony of our conscience. On the other hand, if any one is ashamed to confess his sins, and thus endures the burden of a guilty conscience, such a shame leads to sin, and robs the conscience of its glory ; for the evil which is in the depth of the heart compunction tries to expel, but a foolish shame locks the lips and will not allow it egress.” Again, “O shame, devoid of reason, enemy of salvation, stranger to honour and honesty.” “Is it, then, a shame for a man to be overcome by God? is it counted a reproach to be humbled under the Mighty Hand of the Most High ?” And again,6 “The highest kind of victory is to yield to the Divine Majesty, and not to struggle against the authority of our Mother, the Church. O perversity, we are not ashamed to soil our feet, but we are ashamed to cleanse them ! ‘ There is a shame/ according to the Wise Man, ‘ which bringeth glory /7 if we are ashamed to sin, or to have sinned ; nor indeed will it lack glory, if shame restores what sin hath lost.” “I know not anything in the human character more pleasing than bashfulness.” And then he adds, “It is certainly the ornament of every age ; but in those of tender years, this delicate grace of shamefacedness is especially manifest. What more attractive than youthful bashfulness? How bright and beautiful is this moral gem in the face and manners of youth ! How true and sure an index of a good disposition, the presage of a hopeful future ! The rod of discipline is exercised in ruling the affections, repressing youthful passions, restraining from the slightest evil whether of act or desire. What else puts to flight every improper word and utterance? Shame is the sister of chastity. It is the shining lamp of a pure mind ; so that nothing low or vile enters into it or proceeds from it. It gives no quarter to evil, and is the protector of native purity, the special glory of the conscience, the guardian of a good name, the ornament of a life, the throne of virtue, the first of graces, the commendation of nature, the sign of all that is honourable. The blush upon the cheek which bashfulness may chance to bring, what grace and beauty does it not add to the countenance ? Shame is so innate in the human mind, that those who are not ashamed to do evil are ashamed to be seen to do it” “Hiding works in darkness, and those which are worthy of being hidden.” “What so grateful to a bashful disposition as retirement ? If we pray, we are bidden to enter into our closet, that we may pray in secret. But this is ordered also as a precaution, lest, in the very act of praying, human praise should steal the fruit of the prayer, and mar our affection. But what so fitting for shame as the evidence of praise and boasting?” And, a little further on, “What so indecorous, especially in the young, as an ostentatious piety.” “It is a good commendation of the prayer we are going to make, if it is preceded by shamefacedness.” Thus far S. Bernard.
What comes under the consideration of this miracle may be applied to the case of two other blind men, to whom our Lord gave sight when He was going out of Jericho. But the blind man of whom we are speaking received sight as our Lord was entering the city. You can read about the others in S. Matthew and S. Mark,8 where the name of one is given. For they cried to our Lord in the same way, and were heard by Him, and received their sight.
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