Today we hear Saint Matthew’s account of another healing miracle of Jesus Christ. In today’s Gospel we are told of two blind men who came to Jesus asking to be healed. This is followed by an account of a dumb demoniac who, when the devil was driven out of him, was able to speak. Both of these healing miracles showed Christ’s power, and people were amazed and began to revere Him.
Blindness and dumbness are among the greatest of our human infirmities. And even those of us who can see and speak are in many ways nevertheless spiritually blind and dumb. If our spiritual eyes are darkened, then this affects not only our knowledge of God, but also how we view the world around us. It is all too easy for us to view our fellow human beings through the lenses of our own prejudices and thus to miss seeing them for what they truly are, namely beloved children of God, created in His Image and Likeness. In the same way, sin has affected our power of speech; not only do we find it difficult to communicate with God, but our communication with each other becomes distorted. When we remain caught up in our own egos, we simply project our own views onto others, without really listening to them, and real dialogue becomes impossible.
The healing that Christ offers to us requires faith, and also a willingness to see reality for what it truly is. We need to pray that the Lord will shed His Light upon us, and give us the courage to allow it to shine into those dark corners of our lives that we would rather keep hidden.