2014-03-30
Två reflektioner
Lent 4a
Some
saw a blind man being cured and walked on amazed. Others saw the same
cures and found faith. We can see things – everyday things – with
different eyes. A sick woman may be seen with the eye of compassion for
illness, hope for a cure, profit for a profession. The Christian tries
to see the world with the eye of faith.
Growth of Faith
Faith
grows in many ways – by opening ourselves to the human desire for God,
by mulling over the good things of life, by experiencing the good within
ourselves, by looking over times of faith in the past and by allowing
the goodness of others bring us to new and stronger faith. This is the
call of the gospel today – to open our eyes to the Lord who is at work
in many ways.
We
learn to look and love with the eye of faith by looking at the look of
Jesus at us. Faith is often a big jump to believe in what we cannot see.
Even the blind man today was reminded – ‘you are looking at the Son of
Man, he is speaking to you’. Jesus looks at each of us with faith in our
goodness and with love.
Maybe
we can walk around in this atmosphere of faith, ‘seeing’ God in a
flower, in a parent holding a child’s hand, in a man pushing a
wheelchair with courage and notice that in many ways God is near and the
presence of Jesus is at hand.
Amazing Grace - I once was lost and now am found, was blind and now I see.
Donal Neary SJ
Another good reflection.......
José Antonio Pagola.
The
man is blind from birth. Neither he nor his parents have any guilt, but
his destiny will be marked forever. People look at him as a sinner
punished by God. Jesus’ disciples ask him if the sin is from the blind
man or from his parents.
Jesus
sees it in a different light. From what he has seen, he only thinks
about rescuing him from that disgraceful life of begging, despised by
all as a sinner. Jesus feels himself called by God to defend, welcome,
and cure precisely those who live excluded and humiliated.
After
a laborious cure in which the blind man also has to collaborate with
Jesus, he discovers light for the first time. The encounter with Jesus
has changed his life. Finally he can enjoy a life of dignity, without
fear of being an embarrassment for anyone.
He’s
wrong. The religious leaders feel themselves obligated to control the
purity of their religion. They know who isn’t a sinner and who is. They
will decide if he can be received into the religious community.
The
cured beggar openly confesses that Jesus was the one who came to him
and cured him, but the Pharisees irritably reject that: “We know that
that man is a sinner.” The man insists in defending Jesus: he is a
prophet, sent by God. The Pharisees can’t put up with that: “Are you
trying to teach us, and you a sinner through and through ever since you
were born?”
The
Gospel writer says that “when Jesus heard they had ejected him, he went
in search of him”. The exchange is brief. When Jesus asks him if he
believes in the Messiah, the expulsed man says: “Sir, tell me who he is
so that I may believe in him.” Jesus answers him from the depths of his
heart: He’s not far from you. “You have seen him; he is speaking to
you.” The beggar tells him: “Lord, I believe.”
That’s
how Jesus is. He always comes to meet those who aren’t officially
welcome in a religion. He doesn’t abandon those who seek and love him
though they are excluded from the religious communities and
institutions. Those who don’t fit in our churches, have a privileged
place in Jesus’ heart.
Who
will bring Jesus’ message today to those groups who at any time hear
the unjust public condemnation of blind religious leaders; who come to
Christian celebrations with fear of being recognized; who can’t receive
communion at peace in our Masses; who see themselves obligated to live
their faith in Jesus in the silence of their hearts, almost secretly and
clandestinely? My unknown brothers and sisters, don’t ever forget: when
Christians reject you, Jesus welcomes you.
Donal
www.gardinerstparish.ie
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