October 27, 2024

Fr. Pat’s Sermon Notes

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time                                               

You Cannot Change the Outcome from the Sidelines!

When I was twelve or thirteen years old my sister would periodically challenge me to a push-up duel! After she did 6 or 10 push-ups it would be my turn.  I got down and with all my strength began pushing but to no avail: I failed to do even one push-up!  As a result of this humiliation, I began working out with free weights.  After several weeks I could do five push-ups then ten, fifteen, twenty and eventually thirty!  Of course by this time my sister had completely lost interest in dueling with her skinny little brother!  

But I learned a valuable lesson from this experience.  Rather than settling for being the brother who couldn’t do one push-up, I took action to change my situation.  In today’s Gospel a blind man named Bartimaeus, sat begging by the roadside day after day.  He probably begged for money and food but never for his sight back.  He accepted his sad predicament as a life sentence. But then something extraordinary happened that made him reconsider what was possible.  Jesus passed through his town and, determined not to let this opportunity pass him by, Bartimaeus began calling out to him!  And Jesus stopped and called for him.  Then we are told: "He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.”  No more sitting on the sideline for Bartimaeus! 

What about you?  Will you dare to stand up and throw aside the cloak of your “permanent condition” or continue to define yourself by it and wear it as a badge of dishonor?  Maybe it’s your past failures, your addictions, your self-defeating habits, or past hurts that sabotage your present and future relationships.  Or maybe you are lamenting about the sad state of the world around you or the Church where you are a member.  Worrying, complaining, fuming, despairing is not an effective plan of action that can change anything for the better!  Remember, Jesus Christ had big plans for Bartimaeus but Bart needed to believe that Jesus could in fact bring them about. Christ has big plans for you too!  Like Bartimaeus we need to be delivered - not primarily from our blindness to the world around us - but our blindness to what the power of God can accomplish within us.   Then we too can throw aside our excuses, rise up from our despair and realize that while our arms may seem skinny and weak, Jesus Christ, our Savior is mighty and strong!