Jesus Befriends a Blind Man
They came to Bethsaida.
There some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and begged him to touch him. Taking the blind man’s hand, Jesus led him to the outskirts of the village, and, when he had put saliva on the man’s eyes, he placed his hands on him, and asked him: “Do you see anything? ” The man looked up, and said:
“I see the people, for, as they walk about, they look to me like trees.”
Then Jesus again placed his hands on the man’s eyes; and the man saw clearly, his sight was restored, and he saw everything with perfect distinctness. Jesus sent him to his home, and said: “Do not go even into the village.”
—Mark.
What we are in Ourselves
That awful and blessed gift of life,—we only take its measure in the presence of death. Then only do we perceive that, whatever may be its length, it is but the moment upon which there hangs an eternity. What we are outwardly in this world, what men think or say of us, of our titles, of our incomes, or of the absence of them, all this matters but little; all these are leveled by death. But what we are in ourselves, in our consciences, our hopes, our affections and wills, before God our Father, this is a matter of importance that is simply unspeakable, fraught to each one of us with consequences more lasting and momentous than the mind of men can conceive.
—Henry P. Liddon.
A beautiful home is the garden of beautiful characters.
The man who defiles a home wrongs all the future.
Recollect that trifles make perfection, and that perfection is no trifle.
—Michel Angelo.