Nearly 70% of Catholics: Are You Blinder Than Bartimaeus? - Seeing Through Naked Eyes vs. Seeing Through Heart of Faith

To the baptized and confirmed Catholics:

Do you “see” Christ in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist?

Do you “see” the very Corpus Christi (Body of Christ) in the consecrated bread, the Eucharistic Bread, as the hostia (sacrificial victim)?

Do you “see” the precious Sanguis Christi (Blood of Christ) in the consecrated wine?

To be able to “see” and recognize the very presence of the living Christ in the species of the Eucharistic Bread and the Eucharistic Wine?

To your naked eyes, they just look like bread and wine. To your taste buds, they taste like bread and wine.

If that’s all you experience with the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, you are indeed blind! Blinder than Bartimaeus!

According to Mark (Mark 10:46-52), Bartimaeus was a blind beggar in Jericho.  But he did not seem to be a mere blind beggar. He was actually more than that. And there seemed to be something about this blind beggar of Jericho, who caught attention of Jesus and whose blindness was healed by Jesus. And Jesus said it was because of Bartimaeus’ faith.

As a matter of fact, Mark hints something about Bartimaeus beyond being a blind beggar to have grabbed Jesus’ attention for his persistent appeal for Jesus’ mercy.

First, the fact that Bartimaeus was able to recognize Jesus as the Messiah by calling him  “Son of David”(Mark 10:48). Seeing Jesus not just as a man from Nazareth but as the Davidic Messiah (i.e. 2 Samuel 7:5-15; Jeremiah 23:1-8) indicates Bartimaeus’ profound insights with the Scriptures, reflecting the depth of his faith. Those who were able to see Jesus physically and knew him from Nazareth could not see him as the Messiah. They only saw Jesus as a mere carpenter, son of Mary (Mark 6:3). So they thought how could a carpenter of Nazareth could be the Messiah. Those in Jerusalem rejected Jesus as demonic upon witnessing his miracles (Mark 3:22; John 8:48, 52). Those who disregarded the Messianic quality of Jesus were not blind as Bartimaeus was. But, they were blind to what Bartimaeus could see.

In light to John 9:35-41, Bartimaeus was not really “blind”. But rather, the “blind” were those who were able to see Jesus and witness his signs in their naked ayes but failed to believe.

Reflecting on Bartimaeus’ insight to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, in his homily for the 30^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B , Deacon Michael Neba of Holy Child of Jesus Parish in Chicago, confronted our “blindness”, given the reality that only about one third of the Catholics truly believe in the real presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (2019 Pew Research Center Survey). This indicates that a significant number of Catholics who attend Mass and see Epiklesis during the Eucharistic Prayer cannot in their own eyes cannot see Christ’s presence upon transubstantiation. They still see the Eucharist as mere bread and wine, or just a symbol of Christ’s body and blood, like the Protestants.

What is necessary to see the presence of Christ in the Eucharist is not 20-20 eye sight but genuine faith, 20-20 faith. And, to see such truth as the presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist through transubstantiation, it does not depend on our naked eyes but the eyes of our heart, namely, our faith.

It is not “seeing is believing”, but rather, “believing is seeing”, because believing (πίστις/pistis – faith, trusting) enables us to see what is unseen (Hebrews 11:1). Therefore, regardless of your eye sight, a lack of faith can make you blind.

And in this regard, Bartimaeus was able to see what cannot be seen with his naked eyes, because of his faith. This is why Bartimaeus was able to see the presence of Jesus, as he came near to him. So, Bartimaeus raised his voice, calling for Jesus’ mercy. He raised his voice all the more when people tried to silence him. Bartimaeus wanted to see because he wanted to see Jesus, son of David, the prophesized Messiah, even more.

So, when Jesus commanded to go his way upon healing his blindness, Bartimaeus followed Jesus.

What about you? What about us?

Do we “see” Christ in the species of the Eucharistic Bread and in the Eucharistic Wine upon consecration through Epiklesis – as Bartimaeus, blind beggar of Jericho, “saw” the Christ (Messiah) as he was passing by, on his way to Jerusalem, in his heart?  Unless we all “see” the living Christ as the salvific and victorious hostia, in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist in our heart because of our 20-20 faith, we are blinder than Bartimaeus.