The Church calls today, the fourth Sunday in Lent, Laetare Sunday. Laetare is the Latin word for our English "rejoice." We rejoice mid-way during the season of Lent ... perhaps for us today a reminder of the serious fasting and penitential spirit of earlier Church practices. The first three weeks have been days of intense personal examination: how have I lived my life since my baptism or just since Lent 2010? Now, in the second-half of Lent 2011, the Church draws our attention to God and his love for us. In these next three weeks we will be asked to consider with an open heart how wonderful God has been to each of us.
We are invited to consider how God the Father's plan is for us of us to grow in graces despite the faults or sins that have at times distanced us from our loving God. We are given the opportunity to recall how generous Jesus has been for all of us. His suffering and death are reminders that each of us is a child of God, blessed by the graces of forgiveness and love.
Today's gospel shows us how Jesus acts for the Father in bringing sight to a blind man, in bringing sight to anyone who is not necessarily physically blind but emotionally or spiritually blind. The reaction of those with Jesus and others gathered around him wherever he went reflect how human being have so many different ways of "seeing." Let's look at several of these perceptions.
The disciples asked: Who is responsible for this man's blindness? It is because the man himself was a terrible sinner or because his parents were? Some in the crowd saw only the man they were accustomed to seeing -- the town beggar. The Pharisees could not see beyond the law: who broke the Sabbath rule to heal this man's blindness? But Jesus looked at the man and saw beyond the boundaries the different groups had mention.
Most of us have the ability to "see" beyond the surfaces we encounter. The gospel invites us to see beyond the ordinary. Just as Jesus looked at the man, so are we called to see the true value of every person. The blind man was a child of God. You are a child of God. Jesus uses the healing of this man's blindness to teach us the loving goodness of God. Do you stop and ask God a specific question when you meet a situation that seems irreversible? Like this: "Father, this person before me is in bad shape. I believe in you . Why can't I do like Jesus and some of his disciples and bring healing to the person?" When I am visiting the sick or encountering difficult situations, I think to myself: "God, how wonderful it would be there was a solution, a cure, to this situation." Don't you feel that way at times?
During Mass today or at a time when you might be alone with God in prayer, don't forget to ask God for the grace never to allow the selfishness of blind spots to prevent helping others who need the assurance that God truly loves them. Assure them that God sees beyond our sins. Hopefully all of us can say, "Once, Father, I may have been blind but NOW I see."
