Mtr Mary Trainor

Let me see again

Dear friend,

Eddie was 9 years old when we met. By all appearances, he was a regular kid—except he wasn’t. Eddie attended a special school, where everyone hoped he could catch up to grade level—and learn to manage the violent rage that erupted so quickly and so often.

I was blessed to witness one occasion in which his whole countenance was transformed, softened, in the presence of love. 

***

In today’s Gospel from Mark, Jesus and followers are leaving Jericho on their way to Jerusalem. A beggar named Bartimaeus rushes toward Jesus, who asks what he wants: My teacher, let me see again. And it was so. Bartimaeus knew what it was like to see--he remembered colors and rainbows and clouds and day and night and animals and women and children. He wanted to see that beautiful world again.

***

Eddie’s mother never sent a lunch. So  when sack lunches were distributed, Eddie didn’t get one—which embarrassed him. He didn’t go hungry because staff gave him food--but it made him stand out, an object of pity. He wanted a sack lunch like all the other kids had.

Watching this, one staff member decided to be Eddie’s angel, and brought a sack lunch with his name in the bag.

As  lunches were distributed, the teacher held up a bag and called out, “Eddie!” 

He whirled around to notice a colorful bag with his name on it. “Where’d this come from,” he asked, pulling out all the goodies. A sandwich. A bag of chips. A package of Hostess chocolate cupcakes with squiggles of white on top. And a banana. Not just a lunch, but a great lunch.

This was a kid who did not smile, but Eddie smiled that day. He had encountered grace. He met the holy, delivered to him in a paper sack, by an angel who chose to be anonymous.

Having witnessed grace at least once in his life, I pray Eddie was able to call up that memory on future bleak days. And smile.

Mtr Mary