You all might remember a story I once shared with you about a little boy who was scared of the dark.  The story goes that every night as he tried to fall asleep he became overwhelmed by the thought that…when the lights went off…there might be monsters lurking about.  He would run into his mom and dad’s room and jump into bed with them just about every night.  It was becoming a real problem for his parents and certainly for his own growth in maturity.  And so finally one night his mom and dad took him back into his room and very calmly explained, “You don’t need to be afraid…you aren’t alone here in your bedroom.  God is right here with you.  So when you get scared…say a prayer and imagine that he is here with you.”  The little boy said, “I know God is here…but I don’t want to just imagine Him…I want someone in my room who is real…a person…someone with skin.”   

This was a wise little boy.  That’s what we want too.  When we’re sick or scared or confused we don’t want remedies or concepts or ideas…we want a person…we want someone to talk to…someone who will listen to us and who will speak directly to us.  This is what I kept coming back to in my homily brainstorming this week with this really charming little story of Jesus healing the blind man.  Bartimaeus…He wasn’t looking for a scientific solution to his blindness…he wasn’t looking for the idea of being healed or an explanation of why he was blind and how he could regain his sight…he was looking for a person…he was looking for Jesus.  He wanted to have a real encounter with Jesus.
   
This is Pope Benedict’s read of the event.  The Holy Father explains of Jesus and Bartimaeus...the decisive moment was the direct…personal encounter between the Lord and the suffering man.  They found each other face-to-face:  Jesus with his desire to heal and the man with his desire to be healed.  Two freedoms…continues Pope Benedict…two converging desires.  “What do you want me to do for you?...Master…I want to  see…Jesus says…Go your way my friend…your faith has saved you.  A wonderful conversation I think.  Jesus and Bartimaeus had a wonderful conversation.
 
How many nights have each of us prayed for a conversation as simple and as personal and as effective as this one?  See this is the very crux of my problem…I suppose it’s the same for you…I all too often see God as a concept…an all knowing all powerful all perfect ethereal being somewhere up there in eternity…the master-mind behind all that is.  I don’t see God as a person enough.  I don’t have enough conversations with Him…Person to Person…Friend to Friend.  That’s really the key I think.

I can remember this conversation like it was yesterday.  The Old Monsignor…My Seminary and early priesthood Spiritual Director until God called him home last September.  Some of you remember him…Msgr. Charles Elmer.  He asked me in Spiritual Direction one day who I pray to most often…God the Father or Jesus?  It was a curious question…and I immediately answered…the Father.  My prayer was way more often directed to God the Father.  I would almost always pray…Dear God…or Lord…or something like Almighty and Everliving God.  I very rarely prayed to Jesus specifically.  I almost never prayed…Hey Jesus my friend I need your help.  The Old Monsignor responded…well…start praying to Jesus the person now. 

We’re a couple of weeks into our Year of Faith at this point…that would be an outstanding goal for some of us here in this year of faith…to see God as he is…a Person…a Divine Person…but a person none the less.  To make our prayer a conversation with the Living Person of Jesus.  To have a Bartimaeus moment every day where we call out to God the man by name…Jesus…and then to experience the extraordinary response from him to us…by name.  If this could ever happen…I think it might very well be the most profound prayer possible…the Almighty God of all that is coming to us as our friend…a real person.  You remember Mary Magdalene on Easter Sunday Morning?  She sees who she thinks is the gardener…Where have they taken my Lord?  To which the Gardener…who really is Jesus…responds with one word…her name…Mary…Jesus called her by name…Person-to-Person.  What a year of faith that would be…to hear him call us by name. 

This is precisely how Pope Benedict explains what this Year of Faith really is…he writes. The 50 anniversary of the 2^nd Vatican Council is a time to return to God, to deepen and live with greater courage one’s own faith, to strengthen membership in the Church which is the teacher of humanity leading us by the hand to encounter and know Christ, true God and true man.  (That’s pretty standard of an explanation of what The Year of Faith should be…I get that)  But now listen how the Holy Father further enfleshes his idea of the Year of Faith…he says…This is not an encounter with an idea or a life plan…rather it’s an encounter with a living person…Jesus…who deeply transforms us…revealing our true identity as children of the Father.  Faith…explains the Pope...is not something that affects only our intellect but it is a change that involves life…all our being: feelings, heart, intellect, will, body, emotions, human relationships.  Sounds like our gospel here today doesn’t it?  Between these two people…Jesus and Bartimaeus…in this seeming back story event of the gospels on some non descript day down from Jerusalem in the desert near Jericho…these two people meet…and there appears every ingredient that Pope Benedict places into our Year of Faith…  intellect…feeling…heart…will…body…emotion…human relationship.  This gospel…this encounter between Bartimaeus and Jesus…is the Year of Faith in miniature.  It really is an account of God with a human body walking among us…seeking us out so that we might be friends who live together…talk with each other…and of course help one another.  That’s what real friends do.
 
This Year of Faith is about prayer for sure…study – yes…evangelizing the culture – absolutely.  But there’s no doubt that it must begin with a personal encounter with Jesus.  Call out to him by name and then listen closely to what he has to say…and then let the conversation develop…Person-to-Person…just you and Jesus.