Friday 7 December

St. Ambrose

Isaiah 29:17-24;
Psalm 26 (27):1, 4, 13-14; Matthew 9:27-31

A transforming action

Matthew’s cycle of healing stories (Chapters 8-9) climax with the healing of two blind men. Their crying, ‘Have mercy on us,’ is not a call for pity or about a healing only. It is about transforming action which opens up a new way of life for a marginal community living the alternative way of life described by Jesus in his mission discourse of Matthew 10. Earlier, Jesus declared, ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy’ (5:7). Does Jesus having ‘mercy on me’ transform me? How?