"To the One who can give us everything, let us ask everything," Pope Francis recommended as he reflected on the account from the Gospel of Jesus healing Bartimaeus.
"God always listens to the cry of the poor and is not at all disturbed by Bartimaeus’ voice," the Pope said, before leading the midday Angelus on October 24.
Jesus sees that it is a voice full of faith, "that is not afraid to insist, to knock on the door of God’s heart."
Pope Francis reflected how the blind man's prayer is not a "timid and standard prayer."
Unafraid
He drew light from what Bartimaeus called Jesus.
- He calls the Lord “Son of David”: that is, he acknowledges Jesus as the Messiah, the King who would come into the world.
- Then he calls Him by name, confidently; “Jesus.” He is not afraid of Him, he does not stay at a distance.
Thus, what Bartimaeus asks is from God, who is a friend. And, the Pope said, "he shouts out his entire drama," saying, "Have mercy on me."
Bartimaeus does not use many words, the Pope said, but "entrusts himself to God's love" and asks for what is humanly impossible.
And what about us?
When we ask for God’s grace, in our prayer do we also include our own history, our wounds, our humiliations, our broken dreams, our mistakes and our regrets?
What is my prayer like?
Is it courageous?
Does it contain the good insistence of Bartimaeus, does it know how to “take hold” of the Lord as he passes, or is it rather content with making a formal greeting every now and then, when I remember?
Is my prayer “substantial,” does it bare my heart before the Lord? Do I take my story and life experience to him?
Or is it anaemic, superficial, made up of rituals, without feeling and without heart?
Let us ask everything
The Pope invited us:
