4th Sunday of Lent
– Cycle A
Friends, we all know that Lent is a time of
penance and preparation. Hopefully, we
all know that the penance part has a purpose: that is, for preparation. Preparation to celebrate the great solemnity commemorating
the Resurrection of our Lord (otherwise known as Easter) and for us to meet our
Lord when he either calls us home to himself or returns to usher in the “end of
the ages”. To that end, one of the
things that we do during this time is to take a hard look at our lives to
identify in what ways we are still in need of conversion: that is, of turning
back to the Lord. Then, having
identified those ways, we set ourselves to that work of conversion.
I think, however, that it is safe to say that
there are only a handful of us who are truly heroic in embracing this work:
that is, persons who let nothing get in the way of doing this work of
conversion. Most of us are rather
weak-willed (“stiff-necked” is how the Bible often describes us) and so it is hard
for us to be both self-convicting and energetic in conversion. We are either very hard on ourselves, but
then do very little to produce change, or we are soft on ourselves, but very
energetic trying to stamp out a little fault (all the while ignoring some larger,
more serious faults).
This year, however, God is challenging us to
something more. The coronavirus pandemic
has upended our lives and is forcing us to confront ourselves in ways that, for
many of us, may be—to put it lightly—uncomfortable. Let me say clearly that I don’t believe that
God is allowing this pandemic because he wants anyone to be hurt. But he has allowed it and, if he has allowed
it, he must be allowing it so that good could come from it. I can see two goods right off the bat: a sense
of solidarity with those who are suffering and with those who are on the front
lines of battling this pandemic and, as I have already mentioned, to provide us
with an opportunity to look more sharply at ourselves and to see our ongoing
need for conversion, both as individuals and as a society. Nevertheless, the question still holds, “Why
is this happening?”, and our Gospel reading gives us light into the answer.
There, Jesus and his disciples encounter a man
who was born blind. The detail here is
important. The man was born
blind: he didn’t become blind at some point, but rather he had always been
blind. Nonetheless, the prevailing
thought of the time was that any deformity (like blindness) was a punishment due
to sin, either the individual’s sin or the sin of his parents, that was being
inflicted on him. And so, when Jesus and
his disciples encounter this “man born blind”, Jesus’ disciples ask him, “Rabbi,
who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answers with an enigmatic answer,
saying that this isn’t because of sin, but rather so that God’s glory and power
can be made manifest. It’s a reminder
that we are not often directly punished for our sins or another’s sins, but
rather often suffer because of an indirect effect of sin being in the world. Even still, Jesus is reminding us, this
suffering is intended to be an opportunity to manifest God’s glory and power.
In this case, the man born blind is given sight
and, thus, led to recognize Jesus as the Christ. His blindness from birth humbled him and made
it so that he could see the truth in the reality of things. Thus, when he was cured, he did not look to
explain it away, but rather marveled at what had happened and held in great
esteem the one through whom it was made possible. The Pharisees, on the other hand, who had
never had a problem with physical sight, were, nonetheless, unable to recognize
the truth that was manifest in front of them.
Thus, the man born blind could recognize Jesus as the Christ, while the
Pharisees, worried as they were to protect the way they had constructed things,
could not recognize Jesus as the Christ and so fought to explain away what he
had done.
Friends, as I said at the beginning, this time
has been given to us so as to guide us into the light of Christ. We need to be open to seeing the ways in
which we are still in need of conversion: that is, the ways in which we still
cling to our own ideas of how things should be.
We need to look at the reality of things and respond to them, like the
man born blind did: “If he is a sinner, I don’t know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and
now I see.” There’s no speculation there. Just a clear vision of the reality of things
that provides him with a way to respond.
We, too, need to allow the reality of things to point us to the one in
whom all reality finds its end: Jesus Christ.
And we need to rejoice that, through the grace of baptism, we have been
united to him; and, thus, to rejoice that it is possible to find our end in
him.
Friends, I’ve said to a few others already,
that I can see one of two ends to this crisis: First, that we will one day in
the relatively near future return to our churches for Mass and the sacraments; or
second, (and I don’t mean this flippantly) that the virus will wipe us all
out. My opinion, looking at the reality
of things, is that the latter is not at all likely. So, let's use this time courageously to seek
the reality of things—especially our need for ongoing conversion—and, seeing
the Lord with eyes made new, let us worship him and build his kingdom here on
earth.
Given at Saint Mary’s Cathedral: Lafayette, IN – March 21st
and 22nd, 2020
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