OMELIE / Omelie EN

19 mar 2023

19/03/2023 - 4th Sunday of Lent - year A

19/03/2023 - 4^th Sunday of Lent - year A

Reading 1 1SAM 16,1.4. 6-7.10-13 Psalm 22 Reading 2 EPH 5,8-14 Gospel JN 9,1-41

“Man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart”. With these words, God lets the prophet Samuel know the reason for his mistakes of judgment. We make mistakes like those daily ourselves. So we should never judge anyone, not even when we see someone doing evil. The correct judgment is not good for us to judge others, but only to shield us from evil and, in case, to help our brothers and sisters to win over their temptations.

The Lord looks into the heart! Only the Lord sees people, events and things in their true light, the light which allows to understand them without being tricked. Very often, we are truly blind. If we do not see the world as God sees it, then we are blind. The miracle Jesus does in Jerusalem is convincing us exactly of this: we are blind, unless He Himself opens our eyes to see His face, His presence and His novelty.

The born blind met by Jesus might as well represent all of us. He is born blind: what does this mean? They who are born blind do not know anyone’s face, cannot walk freely because they cannot see the road nor possible obstacles, do not know what is clean and what is dirty, and so they do not realise they might soil everything they touch; they can eat or drink poison without realising, they are always in danger without realising. They are in constant need of others, for someone who loves them and helps them.

So, we are blind. We are in extreme need of someone who lets us know others without mistakes, who guides us on the road, who tells us when our hands are dirty, who warns us if we are eating poison instead of healthy food for our heart and our mind.

The blind met by Jesus and touched by His finger, which has soiled his eyes with mud, has obeyed straight away: he has gone to wash himself in the Pool of Siloam. He came back able to see. He was able to see, that is able finally to know the people talking to him and accompanying him, he could recognise the direction and walk by himself, he could even defend himself, and also make himself useful.

What water is the one which not only gets rid of some mud, but also of the blindness of the eyes? We can understand this easily: the water of the Baptism does the miracle. They who join Jesus to live His love to the Father and bring into the world His Holy Spirit, behold, they can see the light: they see the others like people to love, they can see how to move about the world, understand what is good and what is evil, because they make theirs the Son of God’s criteria.

«Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light», Saint Paul tells us. The apostle is happy to be able to tell us: “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord”. And he recommends us: “Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them!”.

Enlightened by Jesus’ light, we will be able to cooperate with Him so the world might turn towards the Father and act truly with peace and love. And in case we too, like the blind, are sidelined and thrown out, we will be happy anyway to be carriers of God’s Spirit.

Enlightened by the light who is Jesus we will not make any more mistakes of judgement. When meeting the brothers we will not judge them based on appearance, nor based on their social status, education, work they do or cannot do, nor based on their health or defects but only based on the love God the Father pours over them. Jesus is true life: we will cure our eyes in order to be able to see him always, without gap.