Cycle A - Year I:  

19 March 2023: Fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday) 

(Liturgical Color: Rose/Violet)

Readings:

First Reading:        1 Samuel 16:1, 6-7, 10-13

Second Reading:   Ephesians 5:8-14

Gospel:  Please Read  John 9:1-41 

"I was blind but now I see!"

A blind man was begging in a street. He has a sign which read "I am blind and need help!" But no one seemed to care. Someone noticed that people were not giving him money, so he changed the sign to "It's a beautiful day and I can't see it!"   Then people were dropping their money for the blind man. Moral of this story: When people realized their gift of sight, they become caring and generous to those without it.

This Sunday's Gospel narrative is about an encounter between our Lord Jesus Christ and a man born blind. The gist of the story: Jesus heals the blind man and he is able to see. This is one of the most remarkable miracles of Jesus, which reveals the power and glory of God. The healing incident happened on a Sabbath, so the Pharisees faulted Jesus for performing the healing on a Sabbath.

The reaction of the Pharisees on Jesus' healing the blind man speaks of their own spiritual blindness. For while the blind man saw our Lord Jesus pretty clearly as a divine healer, the Pharisees were totally blind of who Jesus is. This is the irony, that those who can see are blind, while those who are physically blind can see the truth.

What is the message of the Gospel incident to us today?

Sometimes, terrible times can be a fertile ground from which blessings spring. In today's incident, the man's blindness gave Jesus the opportunity to demonstrate the love and power of God.

Let us ask ourselves, what is worse, physical blindness or spiritual and moral blindness? Physical blindness blocks us from seeing the beauty and wonder of our physical world. But in spiritual and moral blindness sin clouds the mind in darkness and closes the heart to God's love and truth. And this happens when we deliberately choose to disobey God's laws over the sensual pleasure of humanity.

Often what stands on the way of knowing God's love is not really blindness but self-deception... when we think we are strong, when we think we are righteous, when we think we have sufficient faith and understanding to make it on our own.

The Good News is that our Lord Jesus is ever ready to heal us and free us from the darkness of sin and deception by the evil one.  Jesus offers us freedom from spiritual blindness caused by sin and He restores us to wholeness of body, mind, soul and heart.  For only in the light of God's truth can we see sin for what it really is, which is a rejection of God and opposition to His will. And only if we keep faith in Jesus, and believe in Him, that we are able to see in the light of Christ. For true faith means being the hearts and minds of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that through us He may continue to do the healing and saving works for people in need of God's mercy today. Only as we are willing to fall on our knees and rely on the mercies of God will we ever know the peace of God's grace and love.

The message of the Gospel for us is simply this: If we are willing to confess our blindness -- our lack of faith and understanding, our dependence on the mercies of God -- God will open our eyes and show us the way through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Trivia: The fourth Sunday of Lent is also called "Laetare Sunday". The word "laetare" is Latin which means "rejoice" in anticipation of Easter Sunday. Laetare Sunday is similar to the fourth Sunday of Advent which is called "Gaudete Sunday". The point of both Laetare and Gaudete Sundays is to provide us encouragement toward the end of each respective penitential season. The liturgical color of the priest's vestment and the altar cloth is pink or rose.

A blessed Laetare Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!