Dear friends,sight is a wonderful gift, but what we see with our mind and heart is of even greater value. We have examples of that inner vision in all of today’s readings. Our first reading takes us back 1,000 years before Christ when the prophet Samuel had to choose a king from among the sons of Jesse of Bethlehem. They all had the dignity and physical characteristics of potentially good leaders, but God knew who would make the best king. St. Paul tells us in the second reading that we have been enlightened by Christ, and in the gospel we hear how a man born blind had not only his eyes opened by Christ, but his heart. Meanwhile, those who claimed to be able to see were blinded by arrogance. Through the waters of baptism, the Christian is brought from darkness into the light of truth.
Our world today thrives in a conscious presence of difference. In the street, at work and on the television screen we constantly encounter cultures whose ideas and ideals are unlike ours. Yet, continually the tendency is to project ourselves, our ideas and ideals, our democracy and values to be the rule for everybody – what is good and workable for us must be good and workable for everybody. This was what blinded the Pharisees in our gospel reading today. Their understanding of religion was based on the strict observance of the law, and nothing more. And so for Jesus to take pity on this man born blind and restore his sight was, for them, “unrealistic” because the law forbade healing on the Sabbath.
Interestingly, even the parents of this man were not willing to testify to his healing because of the blind fear of being expelled from the synagogue. And this is how sin, evil and wickedness thrives – on falsehood. Sin blinds our perception of reality, and we are vehement in rejecting even the moral teachings of our faith. The serious challenges facing us as a people, for example, are questions of how and why some interests – especially promoted by the media – are allowed to dominate decision-making while others are excluded completely. It is a terrible and dangerous arrogance to believe that you alone are right: you have a magical eye which sees the truth, and others cannot be right if they disagree. This was the failure of the Pharisees.
May our Lenten journey open our eyes to the truth of God’s ways, realizing that no matter how eloquent our diatribes in defense of falsehood may be, “Man sees the appearance, but the Lord looks into the heart!”
Fr. Gabriel Wankar
Priest-in-Residence