This Sunday’s Gospel tells the story of the man born blind…familiar enough to most of us. But have we heard it so often that we miss the underlying themes, the story between the lines of the text?
We could focus on the miracle of “new sight” in the physical sense but we could go deeper and explore Jesus’ insistence that sin has nothing to do with physical sickness, disability or human tragedy…and in fact, that it is in the midst of tragedy and human suffering that God is present.
Jesus’ words and actions help us to see what the blind man saw…he saw the presence of the Living God! It is easy enough to just “see” the physical blindness of the man in the Gospel and “loose sight” of the spiritual darkness of his parents who, because of fear, fail to speak the amazing truth of their son’s healing.
Fear of speaking out and failure to stand up for truth and justice makes us blind and keeps us in spiritual darkness, as individuals, as communities and as a nation.
In the midst of wars and famine and international, and national crises for refugees and immigrants, we are called to be a people who look, and see…to be a people who do not turn away from the suffering of our sisters and brothers. But rather to be a people who stand with them in the midst of their suffering and work to bring healing to them through working for true and lasting justice for them.
When I look at the world around me, at all the suffering, am I able to see God’s presence in the midst of the suffering; perhaps in the people who are speaking out, and working for the people suffering? Am I called to be there, to be used by God like the “man born blind” to show forth God’s glory in the midst of a suffering world?
When have I felt God’s presence in the midst of suffering? Do I have “blind spots” in my life where I need to ask Jesus for sight, so I may see more clearly my sisters and brothers, as God sees them?
Lenten blessings,
Fr. Tim
We could focus on the miracle of “new sight” in the physical sense but we could go deeper and explore Jesus’ insistence that sin has nothing to do with physical sickness, disability or human tragedy…and in fact, that it is in the midst of tragedy and human suffering that God is present.
Jesus’ words and actions help us to see what the blind man saw…he saw the presence of the Living God! It is easy enough to just “see” the physical blindness of the man in the Gospel and “loose sight” of the spiritual darkness of his parents who, because of fear, fail to speak the amazing truth of their son’s healing.
Fear of speaking out and failure to stand up for truth and justice makes us blind and keeps us in spiritual darkness, as individuals, as communities and as a nation.
In the midst of wars and famine and international, and national crises for refugees and immigrants, we are called to be a people who look, and see…to be a people who do not turn away from the suffering of our sisters and brothers. But rather to be a people who stand with them in the midst of their suffering and work to bring healing to them through working for true and lasting justice for them.
When I look at the world around me, at all the suffering, am I able to see God’s presence in the midst of the suffering; perhaps in the people who are speaking out, and working for the people suffering? Am I called to be there, to be used by God like the “man born blind” to show forth God’s glory in the midst of a suffering world?
When have I felt God’s presence in the midst of suffering? Do I have “blind spots” in my life where I need to ask Jesus for sight, so I may see more clearly my sisters and brothers, as God sees them?
Lenten blessings,
Fr. Tim
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