Led by the blind

And those who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction. (Isaiah 29:24). This verse in the Roman Catholic Lectionary today from the book of the Prophet Isaiah certainly has resonance with educators at the end of the fall semester. The first association we might make with grumbling people who err in spirit might be with our students. Our frustration that they don’t see things our way tends to find fault with them. What aspect of blindness shields our vision from deeper truths in this situation? The reflection of physicist Michael Cherney at CreightonUniversity points to the challenge we all have to step outside our own experience and point of reference to see things differently. The healing of the blind men in Chapter 9 of the Gospel of Matthew today, who interrupt Jesus addressing Him as Son of David has David Guzik comment that they asking God for the best thing they could: mercy. When Jesus asks the blind men whether they believe He is not making His mercy conditional. Perhaps He is like the teacher who does not make presentation of the answer sought by the student conditional, but, in addressing it seeks to draw deeper from the inner richness of the student to illustrate perhaps that the understanding or motivation that the student may not appreciate in themselves is actually there. The faith of the blind men is revealed and the inability of those who have their lives changed in encounter with the mercy of God to be private and quiet about it is the evangelizing zeal which Papa Francesco exhorts those healed by Jesus to bring to a renewed Church and society. Chapter 9 of Matthew is full of surprises! The Kingdom is the rich world where the deaf, blind and meek restored in harmony with the prophesy of Isaiah lead a communion of tax collectors and sinners with the Living God to fill society with new wine of mercy, understanding, compassion, instruction in the Word in new wine skins of a society which is restored to a moral compass attracted to the will of God.