Ceremony level: Regular

Liturgical color: Purple

Entrance chant

Behold, the Lord will come in glory; he will visit his people and give them peace and eternal life.

Collect

Come, Lord Jesus, show your power and come, for you alone can deliver us and save us from all the dangers caused by our sins. You live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

First Reading:  Is 29, 17-24

“On that day the eyes of the blind will be restored to sight.”

From the book of the prophet Isaiah.

Thus says the Lord God: In a little while Lebanon will become a thicket, and the thicket a forest. On that day the deaf will hear the words of the Book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of darkness. The humble will be filled with joy in the Lord, and the poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For he who is arrogant will perish, he who despises others will be put to shame, and he who devises wicked schemes will be cut off, who accuses another falsely by his words, who goes out to the gate to deceive the judge, who oppresses the righteous with a small matter. Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeems Abraham, to the house of Jacob: No longer will Jacob be ashamed or blush, But when they see their children, the work of My hands, praising My holy name in the midst of Jacob, they will praise the Holy One of Jacob and confess the God of Israel. Then the erring heart will gain understanding, and those who murmur will learn the law.

That is the word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm:  Ps 26: 1. 4. 13-14

Response:  The Lord is my light and my salvation (v. 1a).

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is my helper; of whom shall I be afraid? – R.

One thing I ask of the Lord, this I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to enjoy the peace of the Lord, and to contemplate his holy temple. – R.

Chant: I believe that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be courageous, let your hearts be encouraged and wait for the Lord. – Response.

Alleluia:

Alleluia, alleluia! – O heavens, drop dew; O clouds, rain down the Righteous One; let the earth open and bring forth the Redeemer. – Alleluia.

Gospel : Mt 9, 27-31

“Believing in Jesus, two blind men were healed.”

The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew.

As Jesus passed by, two blind men ran after him, shouting, “Son of David, have mercy on us!” When he came to the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith, let it be done to you.” And their eyes were opened. But Jesus warned them, “See that no one knows it.” But they went away and spread the news of him throughout all that region.

That is the word of the Lord.

Prayer over the offerings

Lord, please accept our offerings and our humble prayers. We have no merits and only look to your mercy for help. We pray…

Communion song

And we eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.

Prayer after communion

Lord, you have made us partakers of the holy mystery, and you have nourished us with the bread of heaven. Teach us now, that we may always consider earthly realities with wisdom and long for the eternal realities of heaven. We pray to you…

Reflection

PLEASE ENJOY YOUR EYES AND HEART

(Mt 9,27-31)

1. The fate of the blind is tragic, they hear but do not know what is going on around them. They have to live in loneliness. Feeling their misfortune, the two blind men followed Jesus and begged Him : “Son of David, have mercy on us”.  Being aware of our misery is the first step to being worthy of God’s mercy. The more helpless we feel, the more we must rely on God. The important thing is, do we know how to cling to God and ask Him to heal our souls?

2. There are many blind people in the world today. Blind people in Vietnam often live by begging. In the Bible, the blind are the image of people living in poverty, abandoned by society and even their families.

There are many types of blindness: visual blindness, illiterate, literary blindness, computer blindness… but blindness that does not recognize God as light is perhaps the most disastrous. The blind man used faith to reach the true Light. Or in other words, there is a miraculous way to reach the light, which is faith.

3. Blindness is not seeing and because of not seeing, one does not know or knows in a one-sided way, knows incompletely. Physical blindness is miserable like that, but there is another kind of blindness that is even more miserable. People call it  spiritual blindness , blindness that does not dare to see, does not dare to accept the truth. This is the most common type of blindness in human life.

Yes, not daring to recognize the truth is also a blindness. This disease is very dangerous, it often breaks out and spreads quickly. The cause of this disease is arrogance, a type of virus that is very difficult to treat and often causes very harmful consequences for those who have this disease.

4. Pride and arrogance often lead to blindness, not seeing the truth. Therefore, Lon Jacob created a fable: A lion asked a rhinoceros: “Who is the king of this forest?” The rhinoceros replied: “The lion, who else?” Overjoyed, the lion asked a hippo: “Who is the king of this forest?” And the hippo also replied: “The lion, who else?” The lion asked an elephant: “Who is the king of this forest?” The elephant said nothing, used its trunk to grab the lion, and threw him into the sky. When he fell to the ground, the lion was dizzy, his body aching, but he tried to salvage the situation: “Because I am too stupid to answer your question, I don’t want to compete with you.”

5. The two blind men in today’s Gospel, although they were physically blind, on the contrary, they were given sight in the eyes of faith, in the eyes of the soul, so they recognized the Lord as the Son of King David, the Savior. They believed in the Lord and were healed, given sight.

We can have clear physical eyes because we clearly see God’s works through the universe, but sometimes we are blind in our faith because we do not believe in God through the signs of things, events, and surrounding events to recognize God’s will and carry it out.

6. Jesus saw that the two blind men had faith, and He wanted them to openly express that faith: ” Do you believe that I can do this ?” They answered with all confidence: ” Yes, Lord .” He touched their eyes and said: ” According to your faith be it done to you .” Their eyes were immediately opened. Jesus’ brief words made the two blind men see again.

Faith opens the eyes, faith also opens the eyes of the soul, opens everything…

Bearing the title of Christian, as people who believe in Christ, but many times we have not lived our faith fully. Today, once again Jesus asks us : ”  Do you believe that I can do it ?” May we not only believe with our lips, but also respond with our whole heart to Him and let our faith shine in our lives.

7.  Story : The blind man touching the elephant

In the treasury of Indian folk tales there is a fable as follows: Once upon a time, some blind men went together to see an elephant. They were led to a very large elephant so that they could touch it with their hands.

The first man touched the elephant’s trunk. After touching it, he proudly shouted:

– I know what an elephant looks like, it looks like a big trunk.

The second man touched the elephant’s leg and said:

– No, I see the elephant as a pillar.

The third brother touched the elephant’s side and protested:

– Are you crazy? I see an elephant like a wall!

The fourth brother touched the elephant’s ear and laughed:

– What are you talking about? I see an elephant like a banana leaf.

                                                                    Father Giuse Dinh Lap Liem