“I was blind, but now I see.”

We have a number of Catechumen, now the Elect, entering the Church and even more Candidates receiving full communion in the Church at the Easter Vigil, so my reflections are from the Fourth Sunday in Lent, Cycle A, “Laetare [lay-TAR-ay] Sunday,” the Sunday of rejoicing.

In last week’s Gospel, Jesus gives the Holy Spirit, “living water” to the Samaritan woman at the well, transforming her from “out-cast” to disciple. In today’s Gospel, the Jews of Christ’s day thought that a person afflicted by blindness was a result of their own sin or the sin of their parents. Jesus tells His disciples that this man’s blindness was not the result of sin but uses him to show the mighty works of God.

Jesus chose to give this man sight, to allow him to see for the first time in his life. It is interesting that Jesus cured the man’s physical blindness by using His own spit to make the mud with which He anointed the man’s eyes. Why didn’t He just use water to make mud? Because Jesus wanted the Pharisees and everyone there to know that the power to give sight belonged to Him alone. No one could then say that the water, itself, had the miraculous power to give sight to the blind.

Then, Jesus told the man to go and wash in the waters of Siloam [means sent]. By washing in the waters of Siloam, Jesus was preparing this man to see his call to discipleship. Yet, it is not only to the man born blind that Jesus gives sight. He is also willing to give it to us, all we must do, is accept it. Jesus offers us spiritual sight. His message to us should be clearly seen. We do not want to be veiled in spiritual blindness, like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day; spiritual blindness makes us feel empty, judgmental, envious, suspicious, afraid, depressed, and lonely. During Lent, we are making a journey of faith, from the blindness of sin to the light of Christ shinning in our lives.

Jesus calls us this Lent into His shinning light by opening our hearts to Him. He wants to fill our hearts with His love and grace, so that He can heal our spiritual blindness and restore the spiritual sight He gave us in Baptism. Spiritual sight is feeling the presence of Jesus walking beside us. It is feeling the love of God washing over us. Spiritual sight is our growth in faith and trust in Jesus.

It begins with making our way closer to Jesus, so that we can give Him the opportunity to help us in our need. This requires a conscious decision on our part. We need to move closer to Jesus by talking to Him and listening to Him through constant prayer. So, we rejoice this Sunday as we move closer to Jesus through constant prayer, fasting and works of charity. This Communion with Christ will allow us help others to open their hearts to the light of Christ. Then we all can say, “I was blind, but now I see.”

– Bp. Roy Campbell