Welcome to the Recent Speeches Podcast, presented by BYU Speaches, featuring inspiring new devotionals and forums given each week on BYU campus.

Be sure to check out our other podcasts by searching BYU Speaches wherever you get your podcasts, or by visitingspeches..edu.edu slash podcasts.

This devotional address entitled that the works of God should be made manifest

was given on June 9th of 2026 by Jennifer Brooks, an associate professor of mathematics

at Brigham Young University.

Good morning. I'm happy to be with you. of mathematics at Brigham Young University.

Good morning.

I'm happy to be with you.

Perhaps this isn't an opportunity that I would have sought,

but at the same moment that I knew that I should accept the invitation,

I also knew what the title and topic of the talk would be,

and so I'm grateful for the inspiration I received. It gave me comfort as I was preparing, and I am very grateful to be able to deliver

this message. Blindness is a theme throughout the scriptures. In the Gospels, some of the most

remarkable miracles performed by the Savior

involve the restoration of sight to the blind. Why do we find these stories so compelling?

Blindness is a serious physical limitation that is relatively easy to notice in others

because of the impact it has

on how a person moves about the world and performs simple tasks. Furthermore, for many sighted

people, the prospect of losing vision is frightening, calling into question how one would

navigate many daily situations. For a blind man to receive his sight would immediately

and dramatically change his life and would be a great miracle, undeniable to him, to those around him,

and to all those who later heard the story. Culturally, we think of vision as the primary way we get information about what is

...