Two Blind Men 2023 Fr. Nicholas Carr

Son and of the Holy Spirit, glory to Jesus Christ.

There are times in life when we need help. Some

circumstance arises that is just too much for

us alone. In those times of trouble, to whom

do we go? If I have a toothache, I go to the

dentist. Because I trust in the training and

the abilities of that dentist working with teeth.

If my yard is a wreck, I seek a landscaper. If

my house has been damaged in some storm, a carpenter.

If there is something wrong with my soul, perhaps

I should go to a priest. in any human aid, where

do we go then? In today's gospel reading, we

see clearly the choice of two blind men. Matthew

tells us two blind men followed him, meaning

Jesus, saying, Son of David, have mercy on us.

And when he had come into the house, the blind

men came to him, and Jesus said to them, Do you

believe that I am able to do this? They said

to him, Yes, Lord. And Jesus healed them, saying,

According to your faith, let it be to you. And

Jesus also healed a demon -possessed mute and

made it so he could once again speak. And Jesus

healed other sicknesses and diseases. And when

we find ourselves, overwhelmed with something

that we just can't deal with on our own, where

should we go? When there's no human help possible,

we should follow the example and go to the Lord

Jesus Christ, our Lord and God and Savior. We

can also go to all the myriads of angels and

all the saints, the Holy Mother of God, they

will intercede to the Lord for us as well. This

Sunday, we commemorate two wonder -working icons

where God answered the prayers of his people.

The first is the icon of the Mother of God, the

joy of all who sorrow. In 1888 in St. Petersburg,

there was a great... thunderstorm and lightning

flashed out of the sky and struck a chapel there

and it caught fire and it burned and everything

was singed or burnt except for this icon of the

mother of God. It was so hot in that chapel that

coins were actually pressed into the icon itself

from the heat and yet it was undamaged. How could

something like that be if it were not miraculous?

God seeks to give us his love. He seeks to help

us in times of tough, difficult times. He wants

to be there with us through those times. Won't

we go to him? Shouldn't we pray? Shouldn't we

ask the saints to pray for us as well? The second

icon of the mother of God is, the icon of Pochayev.

I want to read to you, this is on the OCA website.

If you were to look it up for today, you would

find this portion about this icon. In the summer

of 1675 during the Zaboransk War with the Turks,

in the reign of the Polish king Jan Sobieski,

Regiments composed of taters under the command

of Khan Nur ad -Din via Vishnavets fell upon

the Bochayev Monastery. They surrounded it on

three sides. The weak monastery walls and its

stone buildings did not offer much protection

against a siege. Eagleman Joseph Dobromirsky

urged the brethren and the lay people to pray

to their heavenly intercessors, the Most Holy

Theotokos and Saint Job of Pachaya. The monks

and the people prayed fervently, prostrating

themselves before the wonder -working icon of

the Mother of God and the reliquary containing

the relics of Saint Job. At sunrise on the morning

of July 23rd, as the taters prepared to attack

the monastery, the egomon ordered the akathist

to the Theotokos to be sun, and at the opening

words, O Queen of the Heavenly Hosts, the Mother

of God suddenly appeared over the church in an

unfurled, radiant white omephorion. With angels

holding unsheathed swords, St. Job stood beside

the Mother of God, bowing to her and beseeching

her to defend the monastery. The taters believed

that the heavenly army was a vision, and in their

confusion, they started shooting arrows at the

Most Holy Theotokos and St. Job. But the arrows

turned backwards and wounded those who shot them.

The enemy gripped by terror fled in panic, trampling

upon and killing each other. The defenders of

the monastery pursued them and took many prisoners.

Later, some of those prisoners converted to the

Orthodox faith and remained at the monastery

thereafter. What a miracle. How could they ever

have survived this attack? If they gave in to

despair, they would not have prayed and they

would have been destroyed. But they had hope.

They had faith. They had trust in God. And even

in seemingly impossible, the situation was beyond

what they could handle. They prayed and God answered.

There are times in life when we need help. Let

us go in prayer to the Lord. Sometimes we forget

about the unseen part of God's creation, living

in the limited vision of the visible world around

us. But the two blind men came to Christ with

faith and he opened their eyes. And if we are

spiritually blind, we too must come to our Lord

and God and Savior Jesus Christ and ask for healing.

to be given spiritual eyes, eyes of faith which

trust in God. When we are faced with a great

challenge, we must take it to God in prayer.

Perhaps today there is some great challenge that

confronts you. It could be an illness. It could

be some sin that has overwhelmed you. It could

be a betrayal by someone close to you. It could

be emotional, mental, spiritual, or some kind

of challenge, but you know it's just too much.

You feel under siege, like that monastery in

Pachayat. The answer is to go to the Lord Jesus

Christ, to pray to him, to ask the Holy Mother

of God to pray, to ask saints to intercede for

you, to trust in God, not in yourself, not in

other people, but in God. Trust not in the sons

of men in whom there is no salvation, but in

the Lord God, the creator of all things. Let

us follow the example of King David, who writes

in Psalm 54, Save me, O God, by your name, and

vindicate me by your strength. Hear my prayer,

O God, give ear to the words of my mouth. There

are times in life when we need help. let us always

turn to God in prayer, trusting in his love for

us. Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to God.