The request for restored eyesight brings to mind the manner of Christ's healings. He did not merely address a single symptom but gave back perfect health all at once, in a way no physician's art could accomplish. Even after a fever departs, the body needs much time to return to its former strength, yet with His touch, all took place immediately. So we pray, not for a gradual and partial mending, but that the same power which made a man wholly healthy should restore every function of that eye to its full and proper use.
Do not judge the situation merely by present appearance. The incision of the surgeon is one thing; the inward healing under the hand of the Creator is another. When the Lord healed on the Sabbath, He declared He had made a whole man healthy, not a partially afflicted one. The repair of the body, like the circumcision of old, is a partial good; the complete health of the organ, the clarity of sight, this is the fuller work we seek. We ask that the commandment of His will, introduced into the natural order, bring about a wholeness beyond what the knife alone can do.
The house of the Church is a spiritual surgery. It is right that having submitted to the surgeon's physical instrument, you bring the matter here, that whatever infirmity remains may be healed. We do not come to this place to ignore the body's frailty but to seek the remedy that comes from above, lest we carry away old hurts unresolved. The love we have for those whose health is restored is not merely in hearing a good report, but in seeing them with our own eyes, especially when the restoration comes contrary to all expectation. We send up this petition with diligence and speed, laying aside all doubt.
Consider that darkness seems more suitable than light to those diseased in their eyesight. The temporary dimness and discomfort are the aftermath of the cutting, but the spiritual light is what the soul seeks even as the physical eye is mending. Do not let the present shadow cause despair. How many have seemed insensible to improvement for a time, only to have the full fruit of healing appear suddenly? The ten applications of a remedy may seem to have no effect, and yet they prepare the ground for the single blow that brings the tree down, or in this case, the single moment when clear vision is restored. That patience is known to Him who sees the root.
Whether the eye is healed fully now or later, it is not possible that such a petition, offered with faith, should fail of its effect entirely. Let the one recovering from surgery not despair, and let the one who prays remain confident in the Physician of souls and bodies. Many who are sick become healthy. The power that formed the eye in the beginning can restore it, for this is the Church where we set our hearts on things above, standing in heaven by our disposition even while our feet remain on earth.