06.12.24 Jendela Hati: Membuka Diri untuk Mukjizat

Friday 1st week of Advent "Mt 9:27-31" As Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, "Have mercy on us, Son of David" ...Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to him, "Yes, Lord." Then he touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith be it done to you." And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly charged them, "See that no one knows it." But they went away and spread his fame through all that district. It all depended on their faith: since the power of Jesus has no limit, the only limit is our faith. Maybe if the two blind men had only had 'a bit' of faith they would have changed from blind men to one-eyed men... or short-sighted men with myopia... But they had lots of faith and Jesus could heal them completely. The only limit on miracles is our faith. If someone complains that there are not as many miracles today as there were in the past, we should help that person to consider that perhaps there is not as much faith today as there was in the past. There is the story of a rural church in the middle of a farming community that organised a special Mass to pray for rain. A drought had hit the area and their harvest was at risk. Almost the entire village was there at Mass, joining in the prayers for rain. After the Gospel, the priest opened the homily expressing his amazement, "This is strange!" he said. "Two hundred people praying for rain... and no one brought an umbrella!" It is obvious that they were not expecting God to answer their prayers straight away. Sometimes we can suffer from the same lack of faith. We ask Our Lord for many things but, deep down, we don't expect Him to answer our prayers at once. Maybe we even pray with resignation, as if we don't expect God to hear our prayers. But He does. God always does. When the Apostles saw that their faith was not even the size of a mustard seed, they asked Jesus: "Increase our faith!" (Lk 17:5). St Josemaría used to write a sentence on the first page of his liturgical calendar, as a motto for the entire year. On New Year's Day of 1970 he wrote: "Beata Maria intercedente, fortes in fide!" ("Through the intercession of Blessed Mary, may we be strong in the Faith.") Why not use his motto for these days of the Novena?