Sermons & Homilies
Today’s Gospel speaks about the healing of two blind men and of a mute man possessed by a demon. Today’s Epistle teaches us that everything which has been written before us has been written for our own learning. Every case of bodily healing in the Gospel is also an image of how God heals our souls. Physical blindness is an image of spiritual blindness. Physical muteness, of spiritual muteness. Spiritual blindness is the inability of our mind—our mental and spiritual vision—to see God Who is everywhere present, to see others as in the image of God, and to see created things in their Creator.
“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost,” (Lk 19:10). We find throughout the Gospels Christ coming as the good shepherd to rescue His scattered flock. He comes to enlighten the ignorant, to raise up the fallen, to heal the diseased, to redeem from hell. Today’s Gospel gives us another episode in Christ’s search for His lost sheep.
There is rejoicing when the saints are praised, says the wise Solomon (Prov. 29.2), for whose spirit is not roused when they hear the exploits of the saints. Not only do their august deeds excite the soul, but their feats turn our attention towards Him for whom they labored – Christ, the pleased Master of faithful servants, the King of loyal subjects, the Bridegroom of the chaste Bride; the Judge who crowns the victors of the race.
If there is anything America, or rather the whole world desperately needs right now, it is saints. It is the saints who call down God’s mercy and grace on the world. It is the saints who keep the sun shining, the world turning. The saints truly are the salt of the earth, preserving it from rotting away.
