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Some years ago when I was a college undergraduate in Ireland, I used spend a good part of my summer vacations working with blind and visually handicapped kids. The teens that attended the summer camps came from all over the country, and they took part in all kinds of activities ranging from tandem biking and kayaking to swimming and even repelling. Sometimes I could barely watch as they fearlessly scaled down a steep cliff face. Not for the faint-hearted! And certainly not for me!

One of the many young people I befriended on these camps was a young man called Paul. When Paul's mother was pregnant with him she contracted rubella, and not having been vaccinated against this disease, this resulted in Paul being born without eye organs and with underdeveloped knee joints. Consequently Paul spent most of the time in a wheel chair. However, he was capable of hobbling around without the wheelchair, and allowed nothing to deter him from living a full and active life.

One afternoon Paul and I were sitting by a lakeside as the rest of the kids were kayaking. It was a beautiful day and the sunlight danced merrily on the rippling tide by our feet. As I looked out over the hills and valleys before me in their glorious splendor, I was acutely aware of what I could see and what Paul could not. And I asked him this question: "Paul, if through some technological breakthrough you could be given what you never had, the gift of sight, how would you feel about that?" He didn't need any time to think about this. With alarm and panic in his voice he immediately replied that he would not want to be given sight. The reason? It would be as overwhelming for him to be given such a powerful gift, as for a fully sighted person to be suddenly struck blind. Paul knew who he was. He knew his needs and his limitations. He was at home in his body, mind and spirit.

In our gospel reading this morning we hear the story of Bartimaeus, the blind beggar whom Jesus heals. Now just before this incident, Jesus had been instructing his disciples on the meaning of discipleship. However, as often before, he was faced with their failure to grasp his message. So, Jesus decides to offer them a good example of what he means. Enter Bartimaeus. Now Bartimaeus cannot see but he has heard about Jesus. He acknowledges him to be the Son of David, and he believes him to be a great teacher and miracle-worker. There is something about this person Jesus that fascinates and attracts him. He is hungry to learn more and to go deeper in his relationship with Jesus. Jesus heals him of his blindness and sends him off, not just with the gift of sight but with the gift of salvation. Mark tells us that having received the gift of sight, Bartimaeus followed Jesus "on the way." The sight he receives is the sight of faith. The way is the way of discipleship - and it will entail suffering and death.

However, what I find rather fascinating in this whole episode, is the question Jesus puts to Bartimaeus when he calls him forward. Now here we have a blind beggar on the roadside calling out to Jesus to have pity on him. And what does Jesus say to him? "What do you want me to do for you?" Why did he ask Bartimaeus such an apparently dumb question? Wasn't it obvious what his need was? Well perhaps it was obvious to bystanders who simply knew him as the blind beggar. But to Jesus who could see into his heart and soul, there was a much deeper spiritual quest welling within him. And this is what Jesus responded to in addition to healing Bartimaeus of his physical blindness.

"What do you want me to do for you?" In other words, what is it that you need so that you can be at peace and at home in your mind, body and spirit? How often and how well do we ask this question of those we profess to love in our lives? As a spouse do I pose this question to my partner? Or do I presume that after ten years of marriage all is well with my marriage and the person I share my life with. I presumed my friend Paul would be ecstatic with the prospect of being given sight. How wrong I was.

As a parent do I sit down with my out-of-sorts teenager and listen deeply to what's troubling her. Do I ever say to her: "Help me to understand what you are feeling or going through right now. Help me to understand who you really are, so that I can know you better and love you more." Or do I let the years slip by and allow my children to become strangers in my life?

"What do you want me to do for you?" Do I really know who I am and what my deepest needs are? How well do I know, love and listen to my loved ones? How well do we as a people and a nation try to understand and live in harmony with the whole earth community? The answers to our deepest questions lie within each of us. May God help us to find those answers and to use the fruits of our meditation for the healing and flourishing of all creation.