THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT
GOSPEL: John 9:1-41
Dear friends,
This Sunday is marked by a relaxation from the penitential character of the Lenten season. This Sunday, the Holy Mother Church exhorts us to be joyful and relax amidst the epidemic of COVID-19 because Christ our shepherd illuminates us, and heals our blindness and sickness. In the Gospel Reading of today from St. John we hear the marvelous story about Jesus healing a man born blind.
In this Gospel of St. John we see the physical blind man healed by Jesus and spiritual blind Jews 
who refused to see God’s wonderful work in Jesus and to recognize that Jesus came from God. The man who received his sight believed in Jesus, recognized Jesus as Lord and prophet, and worshiped him. The Jews on the other hand did not believe in Jesus and were unrepentant. Therefore, they remained spiritually blind. Physical blindness is when a person is unable to see due to the corruption of the eye by some disease or deformity. On the other hand, spiritual blindness is when a person due the corruption of the mind loses sight of the truth. The person no longer follows the path of truth. The person is in the dark!!!
You and I are like the people in this story: there are certain things to which we are blind, regarding which we lack insight. Sometimes this is willful blindness due to fear, Sometimes our lack of insight is due to ignorance, bad information, strong feelings but little knowledge, which keeps us from seeing how in certain matters. Sometimes we are blinded by hatred or pride.
Some people are blind to those in need of their help or blind to where their help is needed. Such people are quick to turn blind eye to responsibilities that require their attention. An example of this is the priest and the Levite who passed by the side and avoided the man who was left near dead by the robbers (Luke 10:25-37). But it need not be that way. Jesus is the “Light of the World” and he invites us to be like the man he heals in today's Gospel: Be open and courageous, trying our best to live in the light ourselves-- making sure we have good information, all the facts--and then striving courageously to bring the light to others. As members of Caritas for children let us join in prayer for COVID-19 and offer a helping hand where possible.
All of us have one form of blindness or the other. Jesus has anointed us with his word, and invites us at the Pool of Siloam. With heart of repentance, let our prayer be like the prayer of the blind man in Luke 18:41, “Lord, that We may see again and be free from COVID-19.”
