It’s Time to Move!

A Reflection on this Friday’s Gospel (Matthew 9:27-31). 6 December 2024

It is estimated that nearly 500,000 men, women, and children journeyed along the dusty Emigrant Trails leading to the American West between 1843 and 1869. For some, their travel began along the country’s eastern seaboard. For many more, their travel began somewhere in Europe. The journey west was scary and often deadly. As many as ten percent, 50,000 lives across those 26 years, never made it to their destination. Starvation, dysentery, infectious diseases, dehydration, malnutrition, cholera, highwaymen, Indian attacks, injury, and harsh weather were just some of the risks. Despite the dangers, these “pioneers” rejected fear and embraced faith in God. Like the faith of Abraham leaving Haran into the unknown; Joseph returning home to a brother whom he had cheated; and the Holy Family striking out for Egypt to save their son, they moved. They trusted God first.

For so many, the greatest obstacle to faith is trust. Faith is not merely a cognitive assent but a deep personal confidence in God's ability to heal and transform me. It is a very personal and intentional move towards God in what may seem to be a leap into the great unknown. Advent is just such a time to travel to meet Jesus. Jesus is coming and, like the five wise virgins, we must get up and go out to meet Him with our lamps lit. (Matthew 25:1–2)

Our Advent cannot be a time of sitting around spiritually or one where we simply give lip service to God’s coming, allowing the world to distract us. It is a time to go out, in an intentionally toward God. Inspired by a deep trust in Him, you and I must get up and move, or remain ever distant from God’s healing mercy and providential plan.

St. Matthew in his description of the healing of the two blind men, describes just such a movement. These men were likely estranged from their community. Certainly, many believed that their blindness was a result of their, or their parents’ sin. (John 9:2) Not being as spiritually blind as many think, they strike out on their own to find Jesus. They fearlessly call Jesus using His messianic title, “Son of David.” They reject fear, leave their misery behind, and come to Jesus who is likewise coming to them. It is not a meeting of chance, but of a plan. So too, you and I cannot leave our Advent to chance, we must move.

Movement is risky for the two blind men. What happens if they cannot find Jesus in their physical darkness, wandering aimlessly. Also, they were bound to further irritate the local Pharisees, religious leaders, and people who refuse to acknowledge Jesus and His mission. Yet, they set fear and the world’s hostility aside. Their faith-filled move toward Jesus and the spiritual insight that impels them to call out for God’s mercy is what heals them.

Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they said to him. Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened.” (Matthew 9:28–30)

Jesus is coming! Do we have the desire and insight to eliminate the obstacles set before us? Will you step into the unknown, trusting that God is with us every step of the way, guiding us toward His promises, even when the path appears daunting? May this advent of the Lord’s presence be a time for movement toward Jesus, calling for His mercy.

Our undertaking must be prayerful. It also must become one that is a physical meeting with Christ in the other; the hungry, thirsty, the stranger, the naked and homeless, and the ill and in prison. Remember the Lord’s reminder, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)

St Charles Borromeo wrote,

The Church asks us to understand that Christ, who came once in the flesh, is prepared to come again. When we remove all obstacles to his presence he will come, at any hour and moment, to dwell spiritually in our hearts, bringing with him the riches of his grace.
(St Charles Borromeo Liturgy of the Hours)

It’s time to move! Advent is a time to remove any obstacles to God’s healing grace in your life. Like the American pioneers, the Lord is asking each of us; “Do you believe that I can do this?” May our actions this advent be our “yes!” Let it be done according to our faith.

Come Lord Jesus!

Endnotes:

International Commission on English in the Liturgy. The Liturgy of the Hours with Supplement. Vol. 1. New York: Catholic Book Publishing Corp., 1975–1992. Print.