FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT
Christ the light of the world
INTRODUCTION AND CONFITEOR
Today’s Gospel tells about the cure of a man born blind. We all suffer from different forms of blindness. We all have many blind spots. But there is hope for us if we are willing to admit them. [Pause]
Our sins are a from of blindness. Let us confess them, asking Christ to let the light of his grace shine into our minds and hearts. I confess to almighty God
HEADINGS FOR READINGS
First Reading (1 Samuel 16:1, 6-7, 10-13). God chose David, the least of Jesse’s sons, to be king of Israel. This shows that, whereas people look at appearances, God looks at the heart.
Second Reading (Ephesians 5:8-14). Paul tells the Christians at Ephesus that once they were in darkness but now Christ has enlightened them. Therefore, they must adopt a life-style which is appropriate to their new state.
Gospel (John 9:1-41). Jesus is the light of the world. He not only gives sight to those who are physically blind, but the light of faith to those who are spiritually blind, provided they are open to receive it. (Shorter form recommended)
1st Reading – 1 Samuel 16:1B, 6-7, 10-13A
1B The LORD said to Samuel: “Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have chosen my king from among his sons.”
6 As Jesse and his sons came to the sacrifice, Samuel looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is here before him.”
7 But the LORD said to Samuel: “Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.”
10 In the same way Jesse presented seven sons before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen any one of these.”
11 Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” Jesse replied, “There is still the youngest, who is tending the sheep.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send for him; we will not begin the sacrificial banquet until he arrives here.”
12 Jesse sent and had the young man brought to them. He was ruddy, a youth handsome to behold and making a splendid appearance. The LORD said, “There – anoint him, for this is the one!”
13 Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand, anointed David in the presence of his brothers; and from that day on, the spirit of the LORD rushed upon David.
Responsorial Psalm – Psalms 23:1-3A, 3B-4, 5, 6.
R. (1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
3A he refreshes my soul.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
3B He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
5 You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
6 Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
2nd Reading – Ephesians 5:8-14
Brothers and sisters:
8 You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light,
9 for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.
10 Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
11 Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them,
12 for it is shameful even to mention the things done by them in secret;
13 but everything exposed by the light becomes visible,
14 for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says:
“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
Verse Before The Gospel – John 8:12
12 I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.
Gospel – John 9:1-41
1 As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth.
2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.
4 We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.
5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes,
7 and said to him, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” – which means Sent -. So he went and washed, and came back able to see.
8 His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?”
9 Some said, “It is,” but others said, “No, he just looks like him.” He said, “I am.”
10 So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11 He replied, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see.”
12 And they said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.”
13 They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees.
14 Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath.
15 So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.”
16 So some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a sinful man do such signs?” And there was a division among them.
17 So they said to the blind man again, “What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
18 Now the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and gained his sight until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight.
19 They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How does he now see?”
20 His parents answered and said, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.
21 We do not know how he sees now, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is of age; he can speak for himself.”
22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue.
23 For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; question him.”
24 So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner.”
25 He replied, “If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.”
26 So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?”
28 They ridiculed him and said, “You are that man’s disciple; we are disciples of Moses!
29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from.”
30 The man answered and said to them, “This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes.
31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him.
32 It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind.
33 If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.”
34 They answered and said to him, “You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?” Then they threw him out.
35 When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36 He answered and said, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”
37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, the one speaking with you is he.”
38 He said, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him.
39 Then Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.”
40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?”
41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.
HOMILY
I suppose of all our senses the one we value most, the one we would least like to lose, is our sight. A blind person evokes our immediate sympathy. Why? Because he or she is cut off from so much. The blind person is literally in the dark. We all get a glimpse of what this means when a sudden blackout occurs.
Some years ago such a blackout occurred in New York. It happened right in the middle of evening rush hour. Imagine the panic and chaos it caused. The whole of downtown Manhattan was plunged into inky darkness. People were trapped in elevators and stuck in the subways. Outside in the streets traffic got so fouled up that nothing was moving.
John was caught up in the middle of all this. Luckily he was caught above ground. He was walking to a bus stop when it occurred. Even so, it had an overwhelming effect on him. He felt lost, helpless, and frightened. Then he bumped into someone. He apologised and got talking with the stranger. It turned out that it was a man who lived close to where John lived. The man offered to guide John home.
John accepted the offer and began to follow the man through the dark streets. ‘Stay close to me, and I promise to get you home,’ the stranger said. They advanced slowly, cautiously and carefully. The stranger talked as he moved forward. He seemed sure of where he was going and showed little sign of fear. This puzzled John greatly. When he got to the end of his own street, John finally recognised where he was. Up to that he hadn’t the slightest idea. As he parted with the stranger he shook his hand warmly. It was only then that he realised his guide was blind. In the darkness the only one who was sure of his way was the blind man. This was so because he had discovered another way of ‘seeing’.
The story of the blind man in today’s Gospel is not just a story of a man who was cured of physical blindness. It is above all a story of a man who was enlightened by Christ and came to faith in him. What saved him was the fact that he had no problem in admitting his blindness. The amazing thing about the story is this: the blind man saw more than the religious leaders, in the sense that he saw the goodness in Jesus and had more faith in him than they had.
The Pharisees had perfect eyesight. Yet Jesus called them blind. And sadly they remained in their blindness because they refused to acknowledge it and seek the help which Jesus was offering to them. To see well, good eyesight alone is not sufficient. There are many forms of blindness besides physical blindness. These other forms are in some ways just as crippling. Here are some examples:
Selfishness: this blinds us to the needs of others;
Insensitivity: this blinds us to the hurt we’re causing others;
Snobbery: this blinds us to the equal dignity of others;
Pride: this blinds us to our own faults;
Prejudice: this blinds us to the truth;
Hurry: this blinds us to the beauty of the world around us;
Materialism: this blinds us to spiritual values.
All these things do to the window of the eyes What curtains do to an ordinary window – they prevent the person inside from seeing what is outside. We can have good eyesight and yet fail to see so much that is good, true, and beautiful. We all have many blind spots. Hence we can understand what Helen Keller (blind from infancy) meant when she said: ‘The greatest calamity that can befall a person is not that he should be born blind, but that he should have eyes and yet fail to see.’
If we can be so blind regarding the things of the external world, how blind then can we be when it comes to the world of the invisible, the world of the spiritual. As regards physical seeing, we are inferior to most of the animals. They can see farther and better. Many of them can see in the dark. But we have been given ‘eyes’ that they do not have, the eyes of the mind and the soul. With these we can ‘see’ what is invisible, the spiritual realities which are infinitely more important than the material and visible ones.
The most important eyes of all are those of faith. The smallest child who has faith sees more than the smartest scientist who has no faith. Today’s Gospel story is essentially a faith story. The climax of the story is when the man makes an act of faith in Christ. The blindest people in the story are the religious leaders who have no faith in Christ. Their problem is that they refuse to see.
Jesus said that he came ‘to open the eyes of the blind’. He wasn’t talking about the physically blind only, but all those who had lost their way in life and who could no longer find their way to the Father’s house. Thus he Opened the eyes of Zacchaeus to the danger of riches. He opened the eyes of Mary Magdalen to the wretchedness of her life. He opened the eyes of the dying thief to the light of God’s mercy. All of these found their way into the Kingdom of God, while the Pharisees stumbled along in the dark.
Without faith we are in deep night and do not know where we are going. Faith helps us to see in the dark. The one who guides us unerringly along the dark paths of life is Christ. We put our total trust in him who said: ‘Those who follow me will never walk in darkness but will always have the light of life’. Those who have been enlightened by Christ can never again see themselves and their lives in the same light as before. Everything is lit up with an inner radiance.
In a sense we are all born blind. As we go through life our eyes are gradually opened to the vision of truth. We need not be afraid to own our many forms of blindness. Christ will touch our eyes with his gentle hands and gradually open them until we are able to see as he sees. We are not alone. We are members of a community on which Christ has shed his light. We must support one another. We are also called to act as guides to others who have not yet seen the light of Christ.
‘You will be very poor until you realise that it is not with your eyes open that you see the clearest’. (Helder Camara).
PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL
Jesus came to give sight to the blind. Let us pray through him that we may be cured of our many forms of blindness so that we can follow him more freely. R. Lord, that we may see.
For all Christians: that the light of faith may become brighter and stronger in their lives so that, having been enlightened by Christ, they can in turn enlighten others. [Pause] Let us pray to the Lord.
For all those in positions of authority: that they may be able to judge wisely and act fairly. [Pause] Let us pray to the Lord.
For all those who are in darkness, especially those who have no faith: that Christ may enlighten them. [Pause] Let us pray to the Lord.
That we may be saved from the greatest calamity of all: having eyes, and yet failing to see. [Pause) Let us pray to the Lord.
For local needs.
Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, in this life we see as in a glass, darkly. Open our eyes that we may walk with confidence along the road which leads to your Kingdom, where one day we shall see as we are seen. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
COMMUNION REFLECTION
Thoughts of Helen Keller who went blind and deaf when she was only
nineteen months old
One day I asked a friend of mine
who had just returned from a long walk in the woods
what she had seen. She replied:
‘Nothing in particular’.
How was this possible? I asked myself,
when I, who cannot hear or see,
find hundreds of things to interest me
through mere touch.
I feel the delicate shape and design of a leaf.
I pass my hands lovingly
over the rough bark of a pine tree.
Occasionally, if I’m lucky,
I place my hand quietly on a small tree,
and feel the happy quiver of a bird in full song.
All this has convinced me of one thing:
the greatest calamity that can befall people,
is not that they should be born blind,
but rather that they should have eyes
and yet fail to see.