Reflection from Fr. John on the Scriptures for 4th Sunday Lent: John 9:1-41 & Ephesians 5:8-14

• None of us saw this coming:
  • The closing of churches
    • No mass
    • No Eucharist
    • No Gathering to Worship
    Not in our life-time have we seen this
  
  
• We could never have imagined, much less see, how such a small virus could have such a big effect on our lives:
  • The closing of
    • Schools
    • Restaurants
    • Places of play & work
    How such a virus infected the Stock Market and the ability of people to pay bills and mortgages
  
  
• We were blind to it all like the blind man in the Gospel.
  • Like the blind man we so often go blindly thru life.
  
  
• The disciples asked Jesus: Whose sin is it? Who is to blame?
  
  
• We want to blame someone when school is canceled, there’s no paycheck, not enough kits for testing. Whose sin is it we ask? Who is to blame?
  
  
• St. Paul writes about the deeds done in darkness. There are news reports of deeds done in darkness—people taking advantage of the situation. But focusing on deeds of darkness can take us to dark places.
  
  
• Jesus knows that. He changes the question turning our attention from who sinned to where is God in all of this? He’s asking us to open our eyes to the Loving Presence of God who is with us during this dark time.
  
  
• St. Ignatius says that the question for seekers is Finding God in All Things. That’s our challenge as we go blindly thru this crisis. It’s the challenge of opening our eyes to the God of Mystery and discovering this God breaks into our lives with grace in surprising ways and surprising places.
  
  
• Poets have that vision and can open our eyes. One such Irish poet recently did that for me.
  • The poet writes:
    • “Yes there is fear. Yes there is isolation…yes there is even death…
  
  
• But
  
  
  • They say that the streets of Assisi people are singing to each other across the empty squares, keeping their windows open so that those who are alone may the sounds of Family around them…
    
    
  • A woman…is spreading fliers with her tel. # thru the neighborhood so elders may have someone to call.
    
    
  • All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting, looking at neighbors in a new way, waking up to a new reality. Waking up to what matters, to love.
    
    
• So yes there is isolation. But there does not have to be loneliness. There is even death. But there can always be a rebirth of love.”
  
  
• Like the poet, open your eyes to the in breaking of God’s love in your life and see the One oho will lead us from this darkness to light.
  
  
• Jesus told the blind man to wash his eyes.
• We are told to wash our hands, but not to wash our hands of those who need us most.
  
  
• The blind man tells the Pharisees “I was blind and now I see.”
  
  
• At the end of the day, at the end of this crisis we will look back and say “I was blind and now I see.” We will see God, one another, and ourselves in new and graced ways.
  
  
• Until that time follow the urging of the Irish poet who concludes with “Open the windows of your soul. And though you may not be able to touch across the empty square, Sing.
  
  
• Open the windows of your soul and you will see God’s steadfast love holding you. Do that until the day we come together in our churches to sing praising God because we were blind and now we see.