The Blind Beggar

This poor wretch looked at himself the way everyone looked at him: he was his "affliction."  His was a life without hope.  There were many like him and they all looked upon themselves in the same way, according to a certain perception widespread in the Judaism of the time: they were punished physically because they were bad, impure within, sinners!

But that man, Jesus, chose him that day, and the blind man acquired his sight.  Questioned by the teachers and wise men, he answered: "I only know that before I couldn't see and now I see.  I see reality, not only physical reality, but I see the truth of myself, of what I am.  I am not what you say I am.  I am what I saw shining in the gaze of that man as he looked intently at me, looked at me, the nothing I am, looked at me with friendship."

Precisely that day, that man born blind was chosen so that the glory of Christ could shine through his change, so that the others like him could also know that truth of themselves and of the world, of everything, and would be free.  From Abraham onwards, God has always used this method, and we are of the same lineage.

Thus, our life becomes useful if it is lived for the purpose for which we have been chosen, as a father said at the funeral of his three-year-old son who had died of cancer:  "For the remembrance card we chose this line that describes him well: 'The important thing in life is not to do something, but to be born and to let yourself be loved.'"