Homily for the 4th Sunday of Lent

For daily readings, see http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/030208.shtml

The man is blind so that God’s works may become visible in him. So says Jesus, who sees in the man’s blindness an opportunity for him to come to faith. Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This beatitude comes true in the life of the blind man. Because he is poor, he has the humility needed to long for the healing of Jesus. Because of his humility, he has the faith to trust Jesus and then to see him and to hear with his own ears Jesus proclaim himself to be the Son of Man. There are many things in this world that are hard to understand. Why are some people born blind? Why do so many good people get sick and die young and catch so many bad breaks, whereas the wicked seem to enjoy health and prosperity? Why? On many levels, these questions of why have no good answers. They are part of the mystery of the effects of original sin, and the reality of a broken world where everything breaks apart quite unpredictably. Anyone who has prayed for a young child to get well, however, knows that despite the meaninglessness of human suffering, there is a side to it that makes us yearn for the healing touch of Jesus. We yearn for that healing touch to make things better for us in this world. What is more, we yearn for that healing touch that will keep us believing in the reality of his resurrection, and in the life of the world to come.

The Pharisees, unfortunately, do not have the humility to admit, even after the great sign of the healing of the blind man, that they are blind, and so their sin remains. It is impossible for them to think that their fidelity to the law of Moses does not automatically make them more worthy of health and prosperity in this world, and more worthy of judging the works of God than this poor blind man, who is obviously a sinner. But the blind man is eventually incredulous that these Pharisees are so prideful and obstinate. The blind man is exasperated by their questioning – he says that it is amazing that those who sit on the chair of Moses do not know where Jesus is from, despite the fact that Jesus opened his eyes. Jesus rightfully points out to them at the end of today’s Gospel that it is their sinfulness that blinds them. They are not humble enough to allow their sins to come to light, and so they remain in darkness. What a powerful impetus today’s Gospel is for each one of us to do a better examination of conscience, and to make a good confession before we celebrate the Easter mysteries! What an incentive for us to intensify our prayer, fasting and almsgiving, so that we can recognize our sins, confess them with sincere repentance, and have our eyes opened before the great celebration of the Paschal mysteries that lies just before us!

The Scriptures during these Sundays of Lent foreshadow the great signs of new and resurrected life that will be present to us on Easter Sunday. The transfiguration from the second Sunday of Lent, and the raising of Lazarus which we will hear next week, prepare us to hear with great joy the proclamation of the empty tomb. The story of the woman at the well heard last week makes us thirst for the renewal of our baptismal promises, and to be sprinkled with the water that satisfies our deepest longing for eternal life. Today’s Gospel about the man born blind points us toward the Easter candle, and to our faith that the light of the Resurrection of one man, Jesus Christ, is powerful enough to scatter the darkness of sin and death forever.

My dear friends, if our eyes are truly open, we will be able to see not only the signs that Jesus performs in the scriptures for us, but also the eternal realities that these signs represent. Jesus came not only to open the eyes of the blind men, but to open the eyes of all men, so that you and I may recognize him most of all when he places himself into our hands, and takes our sins upon himself, and is nailed to a cross. Jesus says if we can recognize him in this darkness of the mystery of the cross, and if we have the courage and faith to conform our lives to the mystery of this same cross, we will also be able to recognize his resurrection, and to profess on Easter Sunday that Jesus Christ is the light of the world!