FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT
(Violet) Cycle A/Year II (March 22, 2020)
1 Sam 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a/Eph 5:8-14/Jn 9:1-41
Light is one of the most basic and important necessities of man to live on this planet. Without light, man will not be able to behold the beauty of his surroundings and admire the inventions and works of men; he will not be able to see the things that he has to do and go to the place where he wants to go.
Man without light is unable to move freely. So important is the light for humanity that in the beginning, God created the sun to give light to man during daytime and the moon and the stars to give light during nighttime (cfr. Gen 1:16).
The man born blind that the gospel speaks about does not enjoy the light given by the sun, moon and the stars. These light givers do not serve the purpose for him because he is unable to see. Being born blind, not only he can not see his surroundings; he can not also imagine how they look like since he has not seen anything since birth.
Such is the disgraceful situation of the man born blind. That is why, when Jesus sees him, full of mercy to the blind, Jesus cures him of his blindness. He puts clay with His saliva on the eyes of the blind and sends him to wash in the Pool of the Siloam after which the blind man is able to see.
In our society, many of us if not all are blind. There are many who are blinded by ignorance. They cannot read or write and do not even know their rights and duties as citizens and Christians. Much numerous are those blinded by poverty. Their lack of financial support and stability hinder them to obtain their basic necessities and secure their future. Others are blinded by injustice. Victims of racial discrimination, favoritism of their administrators, corrupt justice and political systems, biased media and the like, they do not receive their due and what they properly deserve. Several persons are blinded by their selfish ambitions. They use everything even illegal and immoral things just to achieve what they desire.
Various persons are blinded by fear. Fearing for their lives, positions in their offices, and status in life, they never dare to express and testify to the events they have witnessed particularly to those events that are tainted by irregularities, illegalities and even immoralities.
Some are blinded by pride that they do not want to sacrifice their wants in favor of the needs of others and their personal convictions in favor of the truth. Many others are blinded by power, money and fame. With these things as their lords, they are unable to distinguish the truth from falsehood, justice from injustice, and goodness from evil. All these blind persons, therefore, are victims of their blindness caused by others’ or their selfishness. For this reason, they can not see the truth, experience justice and appreciate life.
In this Lenten season, it is good to know and accept the fact that we are all blind in one way or another. The problem is that blinded by our sins, we do not admit our guilt and offenses. Blinded by our pride, we do not accept that we are blind and do not dare to humble ourselves before God and confess our sins to Him through His representatives, the priests.
And blinded by our selfish desires, we do not want to sacrifice to heal us of our blindness. Jesus comes to us to be our light. Let us not be afraid to accept Jesus into our lives as He comes to us to free us of our own blindness. He has come to cure us and give us light. He even calls us to be the light of the world. This is our vocation: to be like Jesus, the light of the world.
