he opened my eyes

Homily

4th Sunday of Lent A

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

3 April 2011

Daily Readings

JMJ AMDG +m

"This is what is so amazing. That you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes."

These words, said out of frustration by the man born blind to those who would not leave him alone, are words that should be exciting for you and me to proclaim to the world. "This is what is so amazing. That you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes." If we are not proclaiming this, we have relativized a powerful Gospel, and we are no longer living in the light of our baptism. Jesus is not just one of many lights, he is THE light of the world. We would not follow him if he was anything less, and so we should not be ashamed to tell the world that he has opened my eyes.

On Easter Sunday morning, we will proclaim to the world as Christians once again that the day of our baptism was the most important and dramatic day of our lives. We will proclaim to the world that Easter Sunday is the day that changed the world and gave the world its light, more than any other day. It was a day, it is a day, that we began passing over from darkness to light, from death to life. The Transfiguration, the woman at the well, the man born blind, the raising of Lazarus - these Lenten stories are stirring up the reality of our baptism, when we became children of God, when we received living water that quenches every thirst, when we gained the ability to see with God, when we began to die to ourselves with Christ and to live an entirely different kind of life. The catechumens of the Church are going through scrutinies to prepare for their baptism at the Easter vigil; but those of us already baptized, should be this Lent trying to match their preparation in mind and body and heart to celebrate the highest point of our year as Christians - the renewal of our baptismal promises on Easter Sunday.

In the story of the man born blind, Jesus shows himself to be the one through whom all things are made. The Genesis story of creation is everywhere in this Gospel. Jesus proclaims himself to be the light of the world, reminding us that light was the first thing that God made. He rubs the same clay from which man was originally made onto the eyes of the blind man, and tells him to wash in the water of creation, and so shows his power as the one through whom all things are made, to heal the world and redeem it and remake it from the inside out. The man born blind knows this power, and says to the world what we should be saying to it - this is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. He remakes the world, which shows he is from the one who has the power to make it.

How are we proclaiming to the world that Jesus has opened our eyes? Not by assuming that we are better than anyone else, but in admitting that our minds and hearts have been darkened, but in being committed to allowing the one who first made light to be our light. At our baptism, our parents and godparents accepted the Easter candle and the ensuing hope that we would walk always as a child of the light. To be a Christian, then, is not to be perfect by our own power, but to allow the light of Christ to shatter our secrecy and darkness, and to try to walk each day more transparently, more generously, more freely, in the light.

The light of Christ not only exposes our sin as Christians, it guides us to the discovery of truth. Jesus to those who were paying attention, made outrageous claims about himself. He says not I am a way, a truth, a life, but that I am the way, the truth and the life. In saying he is the light of the world, Jesus proposes himself as the answer to every big question that man can think of - why is there something rather than nothing? what is real? what is good, and true and beautiful and eternal? Yet these are not the only questions Jesus proposes to shed light on. In Gaudium et Spes chapter 22 it says:

The truth is that only in the mystery of the Incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and his love, fully reveals man to man, and makes his supreme calling clear. It is not surprising, then, that in Him all the aforementioned truths find their root and attain their crown.

Jesus in becoming man brought the wisdom that first made the world to bear on the mystery of man. He tells the man born blind that he is the son of man, and the answer to not only the mysteries of the universe, but the most personal of questions: who am I? who loves me and who should I love? what should I do to be happy? Jesus proposes himself to be the light, and the answer to these questions pertaining to the mystery of all things.

As we approach Easter, let us dare to join the catechumens of the Church in proclaiming anew to the world how much it means for us to have been enlightened by Christ, that by his entering into relationship with us we have the joy of seeing things newly and clearly, with him and in him and through him, who is light from light. In a world that refuses to see reality with the help of the one who first made light, let us proclaim with the man born blind: this is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes.

JMJ AMDG +m