Fourth Sunday of Lent-a

Fourth Sunday in Lent 

Once an Ontario farmer and a Texan  talked to each other. The Texan said, "how much land do you have". The Ontario man said, "About hundred acres". Then the Texan, "if I begin to drive my car in my ranch, it takes almost evening to reach the other end". The Ontario farmer said, "I can completely understand...I used to have a car like that".  

Once a husband and wife went a camping trip and in the middle of the night, she woke her husband up and said, "What do you see?" The husband said, "I see millions of stars". And what does that tell you? The husband said, "Astronomically, there are billions of galaxies up there and astrologically, the Venus is in Leo and theologically, God who created all is almighty and we are nothing but dust". 

The husband then looked at his wife and said, "What does it that tell you?" The wife said, "you genius...somebody has stolen our tent". 

The husband was clever enough to know the complexities of the stars but missed what was plain and simple. Today's gospel reading is about a whole lot of people who miss the point. In Jesus' healing of a blind man, the Pharisees missed the amazing miracle by divine intervention. 

When I was studying philosophy, our seminary asked us to have a different experience with people who were physically or mentally challenged. I went to help blind children at home for the blind run by sisters of Charity belonged to Saint Mother Teresa. All I had to do is just read a book to a blind boy and everything went well for a week and one day, because of monsoon and torrential rain, the electricity went off. Everything was completely dark and I was afraid to get out. That time, that little blind boy said, "Please hold my hand and I will take you out". All long I was judging him so low and that boy opened my eyes that day to see the reality. Everyone is so precious and important in the sight of God and thus we see how Christ loved the blind man so much and opened his eyes.   

There is a beautiful story about Cardinal Newman. When he was a teacher at Oxford, he got sick and he wanted to go home in England but no transportation was available. As he was waiting alone, he cried out to God saying, "Lead kindly light amid the encircling gloom. Lead thou me on. The night is dark and I am far from home; lead thou me on. Keep thou my feet and I don't ask to see the distance scene-one step enough for me and thus he concluded the beautiful poem asking God to lead him to light and thus he finally arrived home, yes he converted to Roman Catholic faith. 

Cardinal Newman's cry is everybody's cry today. We are all blinded by so many things and are struggling to find God in and around us. 

We have all heard the phrase, "Seeing is believing". The idea comes, I suppose, from skeptical people who won't believe anything until they see it for themselves. 

For example, St. Thomas, " I will not believe unless I put my finger into His wounds and my hand in my side".  What did Jesus say, "Blessed are those who haven't seen and yet have come to believe".  

Today's gospel 'seeing is believing' is paradoxically both proved and disproved. It's proved that the blind man who got his sight recognized Christ as the Son of God. But on the other hand, those Pharisees and Scribes could not see and recognize Christ. The blind man could see but the sighted Pharisees failed to see. 

Conclusion: 

Though we are given the blessing of sight, Do we see and recognized Christ in our everyday life. Do we see Him in our brothers and sisters in need. As we celebrate Lent, let us open our eyes and see Christ as our Lord and God. 

There is an old story about a blind beggar with a sign saying, "Please help me  I am blind". Every day the blind beggar was largely ignored by the passersby. One day, a man rewrote that sign and went away. The blind man didn't know what was written but everyone who saw the sign stopped by and helped the blind man. Yes, the sign said, "What a beautiful day and I can't see. Please help"   

As we celebrate the season of Lent, let us open ourselves to see what is going on around us and find Christ in every suffering person. God bless. Amen.