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Patriarch Daniel focused his sermon on Sunday, May 24, on the way God can work through an invalid person, the blind man who became an enlightener of many, a teacher for us and a confessor of Christ.
‘Sickness is not always a consequence of sin, but it can also be an
opportunity for God’s secret work in the world to strengthen human
faith,’ the Patriarch of Romania noted.
‘This healed blind man becomes a teacher to us. A teacher of
humility, a teacher of patience,” said the Patriarch, recalling that the
person healed by Christ was born blind and begged from infancy.
“He also becomes a teacher of humble faith and a teacher of the brave
confession of the divinity of Christ,” the Patriarch continued, noting
that the blind man humbly obeyed and fulfilled Jesus’ command to go to
the Pool of Siloam and then boldly confessed Christ in front of the
Pharisees.
“The blind man becomes the enlightener of many through faith and
confession. He contrasts with those who are in spiritual blindness even
though they see physically.”
“This wonderful pedagogy of Christ shows us how infirm or sick people
can confess His divinity and holiness, while some people who see with
their physical eyes refuse to acknowledge God’s presence and work in
them.”
Manifestations of spiritual blindness
The Patriarch of Romania said that spiritual blindness is manifested in today’s society in various forms.
“It is about blindness through unbelief. Today, unbelief as the
inability of some people to recognize that God is the creator of heaven,
earth, and man manifests itself in many ways: atheism or hostility to
religion, nihilism, or indifference to religious values, secularization,
or diminishing the importance of spiritual life in the lives of
believers.”
Patriarch Daniel appreciated that often those who go through
suffering become confessors. However, it is not necessary to suffer to
thank God:
“People who have gone through suffering and felt God’s help as
healing, as relief from pain, as a change of life, and as a pledge of
salvation through suffering and repentance, become witnesses to God’s
work in the world.”
“Of course, it is good to confess the faith and strengthen ourselves
in the faith not only through suffering, but through thanksgiving to God
for the bounties we receive from Him and, above all, for the gift of
life and the gift of health.”
Be together with those who suffer!
Today’s gospel urges us to be with those who are suffering, with the
infirm, with those who have many shortcomings in their lives, His
Beatitude explained.
“We see that no one asked Jesus to heal this man born blind, but on
his initiative, out of His humble and merciful love, Christ the Lord
healed him.”
“That is why we, out of humble and merciful love, must help all those
who need our prayer, first of all, our merciful deed, our word of
encouragement, our presence with the sick. Through every form of help to
those in suffering, we become the hands of the merciful love of Christ.
”
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