Having eyes of faith

One of the ways we sometimes fail to see the true value of people is by generalizing about one aspect of their life and ignoring the rest. It happened in the life of Jesus. ''Can anything good come out of Nazareth?'' asked Nathanael even before he met Jesus. ''Isn't he the son of the carpenter? How can he do all this?'' asked the people of Nazareth, even though they heard his wisdom and saw the miracles he did. Today's readings highlight the importance of true vision. John wrote the book of Apocalypse based on the visions and revelations he had received from God that gave him great hope. He wrote them down to share his hope with the communities. In the gospel, as Jesus enters Jericho on the journey to Jerusalem, a blind man begging on the side of the road asked what was happening. The people replied that Jesus from Nazareth was passing by. They could see Jesus but they did not seem to realize who he really was. But the man who was blind saw Jesus as the saviour who could cure him. ''Jesus, son of David, have pity on me and let me see again.'' Jesus saw more than a blind man and recognized a person of great faith and cured him. Dear Lord, we have a lot of information about you but we want to go beyond that to see you as the person who loves us so much that you are knocking on our door inviting us to enter into the deepest possible friendship with you. You know us as we truly are. As we deepen our friendship with you, Lord, give us eyes to see the best in all our sisters and brothers so that we may all be one in You.