Fifth Meditation

(Ascent of Mount Carmel, book I: chapter 8)

"And they came to Beth-saida. And some people brought to him a blind man, and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the village; and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands upon him, he asked him, 'Do you see anything?' And he looked up and said, 'I see men; but they look like trees, walking.' Then again he laid his hands upon his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and saw everything clearly. And he sent him away to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village." (9)


Shades Of The Heart

The darkened glasses of the heart,
Distort the truth that is perceived;
With cold judgement, it will impart
Its own version of what's believed.

The appetites darken and blind,
With filters of judgement and sin.
The light of Truth is left behind --
How can true conversion begin?

Her blinded heart gropes on its way
For wants it has perceived as need:
Desire has led her astray;
Only by grace can she be freed.

Her blinded heart falls in the ditch,
Led by reason as light as pitch.

9. Mark 8:22-26


(c) Paul Buis, 2003