FROM THE DESK OF FR. SERGIO N. OVANDO, PASTOR........  
 
God and us

 
The miracle presented to us by the Gospel of Mark is so rich that we could spend much time meditating and explaining the meaning of each part of it.  But in the background of this passage is a simple reality: the blind man and Jesus; in other words: God and us.
One cannot be saved if we don’t do our part, but it is also equally true that salvation is the work of God.  The Gospel presents the actions of the blind man in whom we are all represented; everything he does is to obtain from Jesus what he wants, the ability to see. He hears about Jesus, he calls to him, he goes to him, he asks of him.  And each one of these actions is matched by Jesus, he approaches him, he calls him, he talks to him, he saves him.
While we live in this world we need to move toward Jesus, talk to him, search for his grace, and then receive it when he gives it to us. God is always the one who saves, but in the words of St. Augustine: “God who created you without you, will not save you without you.”
In our lives, we need to do our best and then put ourselves in the hands of God.  While we work for our salvation we cannot stop crying out to him, even when some ask us to be silent. We need to approach Jesus with courage, convinced that He is our salvation, even when we cannot see him.
Working for our salvation we might fall into two mistakes. First when we believe that we alone can do everything, conquer the world. Second when we expect God to do everything. Christian life consists in the perfect balance of what we do and what God does in our life.
I encourage you to "Pray as if everything depended on God. Work as if everything depended on you." (St. Augustine), then, as Bartimaeus did, we will see and follow Jesus on the way.