How often we catch ourselves thinking, when something happens that we, to put it mildly, do not like: 'Why is this happening to me?' Why did the Lord arrange everything this way, and if He did not arrange it, why did He allow it to happen? What did I do that now this has happened? And so on... But if we are to seek an answer to such a question, it should be formulated differently - beginning with the question 'For what purpose?' And then the answer is not far away: 'We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose' (Rom 8:28).

In addition, the apostle Paul directly warns Timothy in today's passage: 'All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted' (2 Tim 3:12). So it would seem that everything is sealed... But people believe and strive toward Christ not in order to be persecuted. People seek God and find communion with Him, and this becomes far more important than any surrounding problems. Persecutions, in Paul's words, are only a consequence of the desire for a godly life in Jesus. For as long as the whole world has not received the message about our Lord and the Lord Himself, there will remain people who do not acknowledge Him. And accordingly, they will not acknowledge those who follow Him.

What follows? What is alien is rejected, especially what 'condemns' us. But this 'condemnation' is of a different kind from the one we are used to. 'And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil; for everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, so that his deeds may not be exposed' (John 3:19-20).

What a miracle took place on the day when each of us heard the news of Christ and met Him Himself! For, as the apostle Paul writes, almost every person is inclined to 'choose teachers for themselves who will flatter their hearing' (2 Tim 4:3). But by the wondrous mercy and love of God these barriers are broken - and the heart is set free to listen and to learn what truth is. The conversion of each of us is truly a gift of God, a miracle over which the angels rejoice (see Luke 15:10). And it is the Lord who brings us to Himself, patiently awaiting the moment of our meeting.

But Paul writes the lines of today's reading precisely to warn us. How often, after finally meeting God and living for some time in the life of the Church, a person begins to consider himself 'knowledgeable,' and at times more knowledgeable than someone else! This can certainly be true, but how easy it is to slide from the feeling of being more experienced and wise into the pitiful state in which you already 'know' everything better than others and think there is no need to listen to them...

Yes, that is an extreme, but more often it happens just as the apostle writes: 'they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to fables' (2 Tim 4:4). After all, how much more pleasant it is to listen to those who say what is pleasing to your own dear soul; in reality, you are listening only to yourself, carefully filtering the information that comes in...

For eight chapters in a row now we have been reading about the glorious passage of the Son of God over the earth. Have we recognized Him? Have we learned to trust Him? To believe His word? Or do we still need signs? Have we "understood" everything, or have we remained blind? What is there more of in us: the leaven of the Pharisees, or the faith of the hungry and the sick? Does the one who was hungry and was fed, who was sick and was healed, who was blind and received sight, still need signs?

The disciples witnessed the feeding of the people. They were at that feast and even distributed the bread. But in everyday life they remain in doubt and are not sure that they will be fed, although Jesus is with them and they see Him with their eyes. But with the heart? Do we feel God's presence in everyday life, on Monday, in the boat in which we are crossing the week? Or do we "still not understand"? For the second time Mark gives a passage about feeding a large crowd with a few loaves. It is important to understand that if bread is given from God's hands, then it is not just bread. People are fed by God's blessing, by God's love. And this is truly real nourishment.

It is hard to understand what is happening to others when everything is all right with you, when you have nothing to plead for tearfully. When there is no real need, there is no need for hope, and no need for the Healer. When we do not thirst for an encounter with truth and love, when we have not been worn down in this world by our weakness and infirmity while seeking truth, it is hard to be satisfied with what God gives us. Such are the Pharisees: Jesus does not even speak with them. "He left them."

The disciples remain beside Jesus, see Him with earthly eyes, share a meal with Him, and see many healings, but still remain outside the mystery of God. They have received sight for the first time, like that blind man from Bethsaida. After the first laying on of hands, the blind man began to see like everyone else. He saw people outwardly. A person was able to "see everything clearly" only in the presence of Jesus, when he "looked intently."

God gives spiritual sight to those who thirst for it. For this, the "hardened heart" must be "softened." Then it will become clear what the spirit of Pharisaism is; then the spiritual life of people and of God will be visible. Then signs will no longer be needed. What, then, have we managed to "understand" over these seven and a half chapters? What have we really understood, what have we "seen clearly," how have we changed?