The Catholic Parish of
Saint John Henry Newman

 Covering most of East Leeds

Blindness.

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Being born blind or suffering blindness in later life through an accident or illness, must be truly devastating and is something that a sighted person cannot really understand how it affects your way of life. With our modern technology, there are now many procedures to help people from losing their sight and to improve impaired vision. But this wasn't the position two thousand years ago as this next paragraph from the bible will illustrate.

Bartimaeus, the blind man sits forlornly at the side of the road. As Jesus passes by, Bartimaeus makes an impassioned plea, saying,
“Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.”
His prayer was answered and Jesus restores his sight. For a blind person to suddenly be able to see must be an incredible experience, but there are many ways of experiencing the darkness of blindness without actually losing your sight.

Karen, a wife and mother, cleans the house every day, but before she has even finished the dust begins to settle again. She prepares a meal for her family, but even as she is cooking it, she is thinking about what to serve up for tomorrow’s dinner. Karen and her husband never seem to go anywhere together and she feels that the family is drifting apart. Every day when she gets up, she has nothing to look forward to, but the same boring routine yet again. She is blind! She is like Bartimaeus, sitting in darkness because there is no light in her life....

Robert goes to work every day, but his job is making him more and more depressed. Whatever he does or says to his boss, doesn't seem to count anymore and he also feels his job is insecure. Robert worries, because he’s too old to start again and too young to retire. He feels he has to stay in the job to protect his pension and his family's security and he needs the monthly pay check to pay the bills. He is blind! He is also like Bartimaeus, sitting in darkness and failing to see the light at the end of the tunnel....

How many of us also feel lost and confused in the darkness of our lives? Sometimes we also need to pray, “Jesus Son of David, have pity on me.”



“Whenever we are healthy, physically and spiritually, we feel whole”.

“When we can be at one with our work and forget about ourselves, we are in a state of bliss”.



Published Fri 14th Mar 2014 12:16:10

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