EIGHTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Thursday

Year II

Readings

First Reading
1 Pt 2:2–5, 9–12

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 100:2, 3, 4, 5

Gospel
Mk 10:46–52

Meditation on Today’s Readings

Taken from the Vatican II Sunday and Weekday Missal
Written by Celia Sirois

“I want to see,” says blind Bartimaeus in today’s reading from Mark. In the Gospels to believe is to have one’s eyes opened to the revelation of God in nature and in history. “How beautiful are all his works!” exclaims Sirach, awestruck at the glory of God that fills all creation. Peter’s letter is crowded with colorful images as he invites the newly baptized to see themselves now as God’s own people—“newborn infants...living stones...a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.”

The story of Bartimaeus is the story of a call as well as of a cure. When Jesus summons, the blind beggar throws off his cloak and comes. This gesture recalls the response of the first disciples who immediately left their nets when Jesus called. The beggar’s cloak is the “tool of his trade,” the net in which he catches the alms on which he lives. He abandons all this for the chance to see, and seeing, he “followed him on the way.” “I want to see,” we cry too. And to us Mark says, “Get up! Jesus is calling you!”

The copyright for the Sunday Missal Introductions is:
Copyright (c) 2001, Daughters of St. Paul
The copyright for the Weekday Missal Introduction is:
Copyright (c) 2002, Daughters of St. Paul