4th SUNDAY OF LENT 18th/19th MARCH 2023

MOTHERS’ DAY

Dear Parishioners,

Happy Mothers’ Day to all mothers and grandmothers! Have a wonderful day..

St John in his Gospel tells us today of the case of the blind man. This is the second profound message we hear these Sundays. Last week we heard of the story of the Samaritan woman at the well and Jesus promising her and us the water welling up to eternal life. Next Sunday, we will hear the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Jesus gives us the promise of eternal life with him.

Jesus gives the gift of sight to the man born blind. We have eyes to see – but so often we only have blurred vision or are totally blind. Equally, we can have the gift of hearing – but be deaf in so many ways.

The blind man in the Gospel story saw more than the religious leaders in the sense that he had more faith than they did. The Pharisees could see, but had no faith in Jesus. There are many types of blindness: selfishness can blind us to the needs of others; prejudice blinds us to truth and dignity of others; pride blinds us to our own faults etc. We not only see with our eyes; we need to see with our minds, our hearts and our imagination. The best sight we can have are the eyes of faith. This Gospel story is about faith in Jesus.

Note too, in the Gospel the question: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, for him to be born blind?” It was believed that if a person were suffering from a disability, then somebody in the family had sinned. This was God’s way of punishment for sin. But nothing could be further from the truth – Jesus set out to abolish this way of thinking. Jesus shows that God loves us and does not punish us in this way. Yes, there is suffering in our lives and in the world, but God doesn’t take revenge on us. Notice too, that the blind man tells his own story. He is an evangelist leading others to Jesus, just as did the woman at the well last week.

As we reflect on the scriptures we can ask ourselves “Was there ever an occasion when some blindness was taken away from us?” How did we feel? Also, there are several characters in today’s story: Jesus, the blind man, the disciples, the neighbours, parents of the blind man and the Pharisees. Can you put yourself in the position of each one and see what you can learn from each?

The fact is, like these characters sometimes we see, sometimes our eyes and minds are closed for all sort of reasons. We pray that the Lord will open our eyes, our minds and our hearts to see Him active in our lives.

That’s all for now, have a blessed week,

Fr Joe