Today's Advent Meditation: The Daily Gospel with Fr. Philippe, O.P.

Gospel
Mt 9:27-31

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.

St. Matthew's gospel is clear: those who follow Jesus are the blind, the lame, and the sick. Healthy people do not need to follow Him. We follow Jesus because we are poor. It is still necessary today to be very poor in order to follow Jesus: people who have a good conscience, who go to Mass on Sunday and who the rest of the day no longer give a thought to Jesus do not follow Jesus. However, the blind, the crippled, the lame, those who suffer, those who know that they are incapable of making it on their own but have a total confidence in Jesus, they are the ones who follow Jesus. And Jesus asks them: "Do you believe that I can do this?"

It is wonderful of Jesus to ask the sick what He can do! Jesus is waiting for us to have this total confidence, this confidence in His mercy. One has to truly believe without doubting. If we have absolute confidence in Christ, He will be able to do everything in us, He can accomplish all; but our faith is not sufficiently great, not sufficiently loving. We are not little enough...It is necessary to be very little, very poor to follow Jesus... If your faith is very strong, if it looks to Jesus as the Almighty, the All-loving, the One who comes to transform all things and to take us totally to Himself, then Jesus can freely act. "Let it be done for you according to your faith."
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