Fridays throughout our history have been weekly days of penance, because of Good Friday; Just as every Sunday is a return to Easter.
On this first Friday of the new liturgical year, our gospel turns to an image with which we begin every mass. In only a few verses beginning at Mt 9:27 we see key concepts.
The two men in the story are blind. So many times in gospel this is how Jesus views sin. Jesus does not see people as evil but as ignorant (they know not what they do) or blind. These two blind men have one up on many of us. They know they are blind. They know they need help. They are willing to beg for it. The verb krazo literally means to scream, to cry out.
Whom do they beg? The son of the king. They call Jesus "son of David", a phrase that invokes all of that kingdom imagery.
How do they beg? The same way we do every time we celebrate mass, eleison, have mercy, have compassion. The one chant that remained in the original Greek even when mass went to Latin.
We stand before God, and acknowledge Jesus as our Lord and savior, the Christ. We acknowledge our being the blind men every time we sing.
Kyrie, eleison
Christie, eleison
Kyrie, eleison
Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy
Today is a day for soul searching. Can we acknowledge our blindness? Are we willing to beg, to humble ourselves before the Lord, to cry out from the bottom of our hearts?
