Msgr. Roger J. Landry
National Director, The Pontifical Mission Societies
Daily Reflection for December 5, 2025
Here is the video of today’s reflection.
The Youtube generated transcript for today’s reflection is:
I’m Monsignor Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States. Coming to you from the beautiful grounds of the Augustine Institute in St. Louis, Missouri. Today is December 5th, the sixth day of the Advent season. And in today’s gospel, we see important characteristics about the way we’re supposed to approach Jesus and his triple coming to us in history in Bethlehem, in mystery in the sacraments, and in majesty on the clouds at the end of time. What are the lessons we learn? Jesus walking and two blind men sitting by the roadside begging started to cry out, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on us.” And Jesus did have pity and he was that son of David. So what did he do? He went into the house. He didn’t approach them because he wanted to stoke their desire. He could have come over to them immediately, but he wanted their desire to be purified. So they got up and they followed Jesus into the house. When they came into the house, that’s when Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do?” And they said, “We want to see.” They expressed that they wanted to see things naturally for them. And that makes total sense to us. But they wanted to be able to live in the real real world with all the senses, to see all the beauty that God had given. And so Jesus said, “Let it be done to you according to your faith.” And with that, they were cured. Throughout the Advent season, we want to see Jesus. We want to recognize what the incarnation means in Bethlehem. That the whole world has been changed because of the birth of a baby 2,000 years ago. We want to really see him in prayer and in the sacraments. How many people don’t see Jesus in the Eucharist? Who should? How many don’t see him in the tabernacle when they come to pray to him? If they could only see him, wouldn’t they be crying out like these two blind men? We want to definitely be able to see him smiling on us at the end of time when he comes or at the end of our life. We don’t want to be afraid of that moment, but we want to be alert. We want to be awake. We don’t want to be asleep. We don’t want to be blind when he finally comes. And the way that we’re ready for that is when we’re always seeing him in the present. When we’re seeing the effects of the incarnation, in every baby, when we’re seeing him in the sacraments as he desires to be seen. But at the very end of this scene, Jesus says something. He tells the two blind men, “See that no one knows about this.” He didn’t want them spreading word abroad so that everybody would come to him as a as an as an eye doctor rather than as the savior changing the terms on which he had come in order to save us. But they ignored him and they went and they spoke about him everywhere such that people were coming to see him from all parts. Jesus told them not to say anything but they couldn’t hold back what he had done for them and soon everybody knew about it. Jesus has told us the exact opposite. He has said go to the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature, baptizing in the name of the father, son, and holy spirit. Teaching them to observe, not just know, but observe all that have commanded you and knowing that I’m with you always until the end of time. That he’s never going to leave us alone. He wants us to share that good news everywhere. But do we do the exact opposite like the blind men in the gospel? Do we still allow so many people to go throughout life without seeing God in it? Do we allow them to listen to all types of noise, without the gentle, sweet whisper of the Lord Jesus reminding us of his love and calling us to true Christian greatness? The missionaries are the ones who really try to help the whole world prepare for Jesus’ triple advent. We pray for them today and we ask the Lord in this holy season at the beginning of this new liturgical year to do for us what he did for the blind men to open up our eyes so that we can see him and so that at his command rather than against it we might glorify him among everyone. God bless you.
The Gospel reading on which the reflection was based on:
Gospel
As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying out,
“Son of David, have pity on us!”
When he entered the house,
the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them,
“Do you believe that I can do this?”
“Yes, Lord,” they said to him.
Then he touched their eyes and said,
“Let it be done for you according to your faith.”
And their eyes were opened.
Jesus warned them sternly,
“See that no one knows about this.”
But they went out and spread word of him through all that land.