We are in the world and the world is in us. Today's mass readings demonstrate that, whether it's the receding of the floodwaters (Gn 8:6-22) or the gradual healing of a blind man (Mk 8:22-26), Spirit renews in stages.
By raven and by dove, God gradually restores the face of the earth to its original watery state on the first day of creation, when dry ground appeared: “In the first month and in the first of the month, the waters began drying out on earth.” (Gn 8:13 RNJB)
Pairing this story with the stepwise healing of the blind man in Mark suggests that what Spirit works in the world it also works in the human being, one step at a time.
The healing story encapsulates Christian initiation. Touched by Christ, first we begin to see the world more clearly: “I can see people; they look like trees as they walk around.” (Mk 8:24 RNJB)
Then in fullness and truth: “He was cured, and he could see everything distinctly.” (Mk 8:25 RNJB)
Christ works one work, both in the world around us and in the world within. The new person is the world restored. A natural world in balance is human nature restored in the original image of Christ. And the Spirit says of both:
“As long as earth endures:
seed-time and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter, day and night
shall not cease.”
-Gn 8:22 (RNJB)
Unless otherwise indicated, scripture quotations taken from The Revised New Jerusalem Bible Copyright ©️2019 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. All rights reserved.
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