Almost There
Feb 15: Wednesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Today is all about uncertainty. How long are we going to be on this boat? Am I really going to be able to see again? Is Matt going to use as many gifs as he did yesterday?
Let’s find out!
Reading 1
Gn 8:6-13, 20-22
At the end of forty days Noah opened the hatch he had made in the ark, and he sent out a raven, to see if the waters had lessened on the earth. It flew back and forth until the waters dried off from the earth. Then he sent out a dove, to see if the waters had lessened on the earth. But the dove could find no place to alight and perch, and it returned to him in the ark, for there was water all over the earth. Putting out his hand, he caught the dove and drew it back to him inside the ark. He waited seven days more and again sent the dove out from the ark. In the evening the dove came back to him, and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! So Noah knew that the waters had lessened on the earth. He waited still another seven days and then released the dove once more; and this time it did not come back.
In the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water began to dry up on the earth. Noah then removed the covering of the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was drying up.
Noah built an altar to the LORD, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar. When the LORD smelled the sweet odor, he said to himself: “Never again will I doom the earth because of man since the desires of man’s heart are evil from the start; nor will I ever again strike down all living beings, as I have done. As long as the earth lasts, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, Summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
God had told Noah it would rain for 40 days and 40 nights, but he didn’t tell him how long he’d be on the boat. Even when you know how long a bad season will last, there’s going to be time for recovery, for the waters of pain to recede.
He sent out different birds, to see if it was truly over, or if he’d be floating around for a while. It was weeks before Noah’s work was really done.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 116:12-13, 14-15, 18-19
R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
This Psalm is a little uncertain. God has saved the singer, and there’s no way to fully thank God. He offers sacrifice and praise publicly, so at least others can know God has done great things for him.
Alleluia
See Eph 1:17-18
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
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.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
God opens our hearts to hope in things we haven’t seen.
Gospel
When Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethsaida, people brought to him a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on the man and asked, “Do you see anything?” Looking up the man replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.” 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. Then he sent him home and said, “Do not even go into the village.”
With a lot of miracles, Jesus cures the sick who express faith. This blind mind, however, doesn’t seem to express faith. Others brought him to Jesus, and they’re the ones who ask Jesus for help.
Because his faith is incomplete, so is the miracle. But like the dove returning to Noah with an olive branch, seeing partially, the man knows he is on the right track.
And here’s the important part: Jesus doesn’t give up. Our faith is important, but Jesus knows it’s imperfect. He’s the one who will give us perfect faith.