Fourth Week of Lent: Inner Spiritual Vision
In the readings this weekend we are invited to reflect on our inner spiritual vision.
In the first reading, we are reminded that as humans we tend to see others based on what appears on the outside, but God looks and sees what is in our hearts. The prophet Samuel thought that God would choose Jesse’s oldest son, Eliab, because of his impressive appearance and physical height. But God chose David, the youngest brother, who was out tending the sheep.
In the gospel reading, Jesus uses saliva and mud to heal a man born blind. One of the most profound interpretations of this action reminds us that in Genesis, God made man out of “the dust of the ground.” (Gen 2:7) Jesus’ use of mud suggests that he is re-creating the blind man before him. The man receives a whole new life, such that even those who see him after his healing question whether he is the same person as before: “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?” . . . “No, he just looks like him.”
The Pharisees only saw this man, born blind, as a sinner, born from sinners. The Pharisees only looked at the man’s physical abilities. But this is actually a man that Jesus will use to bear witness to all that God has done for him.
God often chooses the unlikeliest persons to be the messengers of his Gospel. We may wonder why God has chosen us. Or we may feel that we lack the qualities needed to lead others to the Lord, or to be of service to the gospel.
There is a popular phrase “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called”. It is through the gift of grace given to us in the sacraments that Jesus gives us his Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that will equips us for the work of sharing the Gospel.
Through the readings this weekend, Jesus is inviting us to see that every time he touches us in the sacraments, we are inwardly re-created and inwardly renewed.
As we come to this midway point in Lent, we must prayerfully look into our hearts and see with the eyes of faith, the ways God is waiting to meet us with his healing love in the sacraments, and that take advantage of God’s amazing grace.
Deacon Michael Braun