A Meditation on the Healing Christ
Our Faith Alive at Home Activity was to choose a reading from the Bible. My family wanted to listen to a story about Jesus as a healer and a comforter. We chose this story from the Gospel of Mark:

They came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, son of David, have pity on me." And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more, "Son of David, have pity on me." Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take courage; get up, he is calling you." He threw aside his cloak, sprang up and came to Jesus. Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see." Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you." Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way. Mark 10:46-52

After listening to the passage from Scripture, my family discussed it. We wanted to better understand the story and we also wanted to determine the message of the story for our family.

My daughter, Maryanne, said the first thing she noticed was how the man got the attention of Jesus. He kept on calling Jesus' name. He never gave up. Maryanne said she thought that is how we should pray to Jesus. Never give up! I noticed how Jesus immediately asked the man, "What do you want me to do for you?" It seems that so often I forget that Jesus is always there ready to help us.

My husband pointed out that after the man received his sight; he became a follower of Jesus.

After our discussion, we made up the following prayer. We wrote it down on a large paper. We hung it in the kitchen where we can pray it together as a family.

Jesus, we know you are with us.
We will call on your name always.
Jesus, you know all our needs.
You are always ready to help us.
We will follow you always.