Miracles happen everyday, even in New York City!….”The blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St Mark about Jesus once again gives sight to a blind man…This theme of “being blind” and then recovering sight keeps coming up….This is not a coincidence…”When Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethsaida, people brought to him a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him”…..What we “see” depends upon many things….Especially when it comes to God and our Catholic faith…What we do not “see” depends more times then not on one thing…..Our pride - It gets in the way of “our sight”…..In order to see as God sees we must bend our will and open our heart…..Human beings are capable of convincing themselves of almost anything…It takes humility to “see”

“Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second time and he saw clearly; his sight was restored and he could see everything distinctly”

Once a person has children, their world view more times then not changes…As a father of five, when I look at people suffering, particularly on the streets of New York, I often think to myself, that person is someones child…I also think to myself…Imagine if that homeless drug addict was my child…How that would absolutely kill me!….My prospective has changed since my wife and I had children…So it is when we "clear away" the bondage of our sins with a Sacramental Confession…Far too many Baptized Catholics have not gone to confession in years…..Far too many Baptized Catholics are carrying around a burden, due to their sins, that only a Sacramental Confession can wipe away…Believe it or not, the weight of our sins effects our world view…It effects what we “hear”…It effects what we “see”……And because of that - Our choices are effected and people are impacted by the choices we make….What do we “see” when we attend Mass?…What do we see when the priest at Mass holds up the Consecrated Host?…..Many will tell you they just “see” mere bread…..Others will “see” the same “bread” and tell you they “see” something entirely different!…Jesus throughout Scripture communicates to us the idea of how one can be blind and then recover their sight…Once again, this is not a coincidence……One day we will all stand before God…And God will put before our eyes everything that we have done, both good and bad….And maybe for the first time in our life, at that moment, we will see clearly - Like we never have before….In the here and now, the more we work on purifying our hearts, the more we will see….The closer we get to God, the more our horizons will open, how we view our neighbor will change, how we view the poor will change, what we see at Mass will change….St John, known as the beloved apostle was a mystic and in his Gospel this is what he had to say about the importance of having clear sight……”What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands concerns the Word of life—for the life was made visible; we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us—what we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; for our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ”…Sounds to me St John “saw” something that most people do not “see”…..Would you agree?.....Interestingly enough, people for centuries have “seen” what St John is talking about too…..Many of those people willing gave their life for what was “visible” to them…I have been “around the block” in my life and I got some “news” for you…People do not give up “the good things of this world” never mind be willing to die for a lie! - Human nature just does not operate like that…Have you ever thought, even just for one second that maybe its the world that is “blind”?

“May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts, that we may know what is the hope that belongs to his call”

Once again in the Gospel today at Mass, Jesus gives a man his sight back…The man was blind and when he stood in the presence of Christ, his sight returned……This same miracle happens everyday, believe it or not….It happens when a Catholic Priest says these words after we make a good and open hearted confession…”I absolve you of your sins - In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - Go in peace - Your sins are forgiven”….When I hear those words and after I make my Act of Contrition…My only response is to say “Thank you”….And interestingly enough, when I walk out of the confessional in the back of the Church and onto the streets of Manhattan I can “see” clearly again!…Miracles happen everyday, even in New York City!….”The blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised”