A homily delivered to the people in the basilica of the holy apostle Peter, on Quinquagesima Sunday. At that time, Jesus took His twelve disciples, and said to them: 'Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things shall be accomplished which were written by the prophets concerning the Son of man. For He shall be delivered to the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and scourged, and spit upon; and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him, and on the third day He shall rise again.' And they understood none of these things; and this word was hidden from them, and they understood not the things that were said. Now it came to pass, as He drew near to Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the wayside, begging. And when he heard the crowd passing by, he asked what this might be.
And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he cried out, saying: 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.' And they that went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace; but he cried out so much the more: 'Son of David, have mercy on me.' And Jesus standing still commanded him to be brought to Him; and when he had drawn near, He asked him, saying: 'What wilt thou that I do to thee?' And he said: 'Lord, that I may see.' And Jesus said to him: 'Receive thy sight; thy faith hath made thee whole.' And immediately he saw, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.
Our Redeemer, foreseeing that the minds of His disciples would be troubled by His Passion, foretells to them long beforehand both the suffering of that same Passion and the glory of His Resurrection, so that when they should see Him dying, as had been foretold, they might not doubt that He would also rise again. But because the disciples, being still carnal, were in no way able to grasp the words of the mystery, recourse is had to a miracle. Before their eyes a blind man receives light, so that heavenly deeds might confirm unto faith those who could not grasp the words of the heavenly mystery. Yet the miracles of our Lord and Saviour must be received in such a way, dearest brethren, that they be both believed to have been truly done, and nonetheless signify something to us by way of their meaning.
For His works both show one thing by their power, and speak another thing by their mystery. Behold, for instance, who this blind man was according to the literal history we know not; yet whom he signifies by the mystery we do know. For the blind man is the human race, which, expelled in its first parent from the joys of paradise, knowing not the brightness of the supernal light, suffers the darkness of its condemnation; but nevertheless is enlightened by the presence of its Redeemer, so that it may now behold by desire the joys of the inward light, and set the steps of good works upon the way of life. And it is to be noted that when Jesus is said to draw near to Jericho, the blind man is enlightened.
For Jericho is interpreted 'moon,' and the moon in sacred speech is put for the failing of the flesh, because, as it wanes at its monthly seasons, it signifies the failing of our mortality. Therefore, while our Creator draws near to Jericho, the blind man returns to the light, because, while the Godhead took upon itself the failing of our flesh, the human race received the light which it had lost. For whence God suffers in a human manner, thence man is raised up to things divine. And this blind man is rightly described as sitting both beside the way and as being a beggar; for Truth itself says: 'I am the way' (John 14:6). He, then, who knows not the brightness of the eternal light is blind; but if he already believes in the Redeemer, he sits beside the way;
but if he already believes, yet neglects to ask that he may receive the eternal light, and ceases from prayer, he indeed sits beside the way as a blind man, but by no means begs. If, however, he both has believed, and has recognized the blindness of his heart, and asks that he may receive the light of truth, he sits beside the way as a blind man, and begs. Whosoever, then, acknowledges the darkness of his blindness, whosoever understands that the light of eternity is what he lacks, let him cry out from the marrow of his heart, let him cry out also with the voices of his mind, saying: 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.' But let us hear what is added when the blind man cries out: 'And they that went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace.'
But what do those signify who go before Jesus as He comes, except the throngs of carnal desires and the tumults of vices, which, before Jesus comes to our heart, scatter our thought by their temptations, and disturb the voices of the heart in prayer? For often, while we wish to be converted to the Lord after committing sins, while we strive to pray against those very vices which we have committed, the phantoms of the sins we have done rush upon the heart, beat back the keen edge of our mind, confound the soul, and stifle the voice of our supplication.
Those, therefore, who went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace, because, before Jesus comes to the heart, the evils we have done, striking upon our thought with their images, disturb us in that very prayer of ours. But let us hear what this blind man, about to be enlightened, did in the face of this. It follows: 'But he cried out so much the more: Son of David, have mercy on me.' Behold, he whom the crowd rebukes that he should be silent cries out more and more, because the more we are pressed by the graver tumult of carnal thoughts, the more ardently ought we to persist in prayer. The crowd forbids us to cry out, because we very often endure the phantoms of our sins even in prayer.
But without doubt it is necessary that the voice of our heart, the more harshly it is repelled, so much the more strongly should persist, until it may overcome the tumult of unlawful thought, and break through to the merciful ears of the Lord by the very excess of its importunity. In himself, as I suppose, each one recognizes what we say, because, when we turn our mind from this world to God, when we betake ourselves to the work of prayer, we afterward endure in our prayer as importunate and grievous the very things which before we did with delight. Scarcely is the thought of them driven from the eyes of the heart by the hand of holy desire; scarcely are their phantoms overcome by the laments of penitence. But when we insist vehemently in our prayer, we fix Jesus, as He passes by, upon our mind. Wherefore it is there subjoined:
'And Jesus standing still commanded him to be brought to Him.' Behold, He who before was passing by now stands still, because, while we still endure the throngs of phantoms in prayer, we perceive Jesus as it were passing by. But when we insist vehemently upon prayer, Jesus stands still that He may restore our light, because God is fixed in the heart, and the light that was lost is restored. Yet in this matter the Lord signifies to us something further, which may profitably be understood concerning His humanity and His divinity. For Jesus heard the blind man crying out as He passed by, but standing still He displayed the miracle of his enlightenment. For to pass by belongs to His humanity, to stand still to His divinity. For through His humanity He had to be born, to grow, to die, to rise again, to come from place to place.
Since, therefore, in the Godhead there is no mutability, and this very thing—to be changed—is to pass by, assuredly that passing is of the flesh, not of the Godhead. But through His divinity it belongs to Him ever to stand still, because, being everywhere present, He neither comes by motion nor departs by motion. Therefore the Lord, passing by, hears the blind man crying out, and standing still, enlightens him, because through His humanity He had compassion upon the voices of our blindness by suffering with us, but He poured into us the light of grace through the power of His divinity. And it is to be noted what He says to the blind man as he comes: 'What wilt thou that I do to thee?' Was it that He who could restore the light did not know what the blind man wanted? But He wills that to be asked which He foreknows both that we will ask and that He will grant.
For He urgently admonishes us to prayer, and yet says: 'For your heavenly Father knoweth what is needful for you, before you ask Him' (Matt. 6:8). To this end, therefore, He requires that He be asked: to this end He requires it, that He may rouse the heart to prayer. Wherefore the blind man too immediately added: 'Lord, that I may see.' Behold, the blind man seeks from the Lord not gold, but light. He counts it of little worth to seek anything apart from light, because, even if the blind man can possess anything whatever, without light he cannot see what he possesses. Let us imitate, then, dearest brethren, him whom we have heard to have been made whole both in body and in mind. Let us seek from the Lord not false riches, not earthly gifts, not fleeting honours, but light;
not the light that is shut up in a place, that is bounded by time, that is varied by the interruption of nights, that is beheld by us in common with the beasts, but let us seek the light which we may be able to behold with the angels alone, which no beginning commences and no end straitens. To which light, assuredly, faith is the way. Wherefore it is rightly answered at once to the blind man as he is enlightened: 'Receive thy sight; thy faith hath made thee whole.' But to this carnal thought says: How can I seek a spiritual light, which I cannot see? Whence is it certain to me that it exists, since it does not shine before bodily eyes? To which thought this is what each one may briefly answer, that these very things which he perceives he thinks not through the body, but through the soul.
And no one sees his own soul, yet does not doubt that he has a soul, which he does not see. For from the invisible soul the visible body is governed. But if that which is invisible be taken away, straightway that which seemed to stand as visible falls to ruin. Is it, then, that life is lived in this visible existence out of an invisible substance, and yet it is doubted that there is an invisible life? But let us now hear what was done for the blind man as he asks, or what he himself did. It follows: 'And immediately he saw, and followed Him.' He sees and follows who works the good that he understands. But he sees, and does not follow, who indeed understands the good, but disdains to do good works.
If, therefore, dearest brethren, we already acknowledge the blindness of our pilgrimage; if, by believing in the mystery of our Redeemer, we sit beside the way; if, by praying daily, we ask light of our Author; if, being now enlightened after our blindness by beholding that same light through understanding, we behold Jesus with the mind—let us follow Him in deed. Let us look upon the way by which He walks, and by imitating let us keep to His footsteps. For he follows Jesus who imitates Him. Hence He says: 'Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead' (Matt. 8:22). For to follow means to imitate. Hence again He admonishes, saying: 'If any man minister to me, let him follow me' (John 12:26). Let us consider, therefore, by what way He walks, that we may deserve to follow.
Behold, though He is the Lord and Creator of the angels, being about to take up our nature which He had made, He came into the womb of the Virgin. Yet He would not be born in this world through the rich; He chose poor parents. Whence also the lamb, which should have been offered for Him, was lacking, and His mother found young pigeons and a pair of turtledoves for the sacrifice (Luke 2:24). He would not prosper in the world; He endured reproaches and mockeries; He suffered spitting, scourges, blows, a crown of thorns, and the cross; and because by the delight of bodily things we fell from inward joy, He showed with what bitterness one must return thither. What, then, ought man to suffer for himself, if God endured so much for men? He, therefore, who has now believed in Christ, but still pursues the gains of avarice, ...
... is exalted in the pride of honour, burns with the torches of envy, defiles himself with the uncleanness of lust, covets the prosperous things that are in the world—such a one disdains to follow Jesus in whom he has believed. For he walks by a different road, if he seeks joys and delights, when his own Leader has shown him the way of bitterness. Let us therefore recall before our eyes the sins we have committed; let us consider how terrible a Judge is coming to punish these things; let us shape our mind to lamentation; let our life for a time grow bitter in penitence, lest it feel eternal bitterness in retribution. For through weeping we are led to eternal joys, Truth promising it, who says: 'Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted' (Matt. 5:5).
But it is through joys that one comes to weeping, this same Truth attesting it, who says: 'Woe to you that now laugh, for you shall mourn and weep' (Luke 6:25). If, therefore, we seek the joy of recompense in the attainment, let us keep the bitterness of penitence upon the way. And so it comes to pass that not only does our life profit toward God, but this very conduct of ours also kindles others to the praise of God. Wherefore it is there subjoined: 'And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.'