Healing of the Blind Man (scene 7)
Duccio di Buoninsegna [Web Gallery of Art]
Readings
(New American Bible:
Philippines, USA)
Readings
(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
For the shorter form of the Gospel omit the passages [in square brackets].
Gospel John 9:1-41 [9:1, 6-9, 13-17,
34-38] (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)
As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. [His
disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was
born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he
was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the
works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As
long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’] When he had
said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud
on the man’s eyes, saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which
means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The
neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, ‘Is this
not the man who used to sit and beg?’ Some were saying, ‘It is he.’ Others
were saying, ‘No, but it is someone like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’ [But
they kept asking him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ He answered, ‘The
man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, “Go to Siloam
and wash.” Then I went and washed and received my sight.’ They said to
him, ‘Where is he?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’]
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now
it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then
the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to
them, ‘He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.’ Some of the
Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not observe the
sabbath.’ But others said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?’
And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, ‘What do you
say about him? It was your eyes he opened.’ He said, ‘He is a prophet.’
[The Jews did
not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called
the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, ‘Is this
your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?’ His
parents answered, ‘We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but
we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes.
Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.’ His parents said this
because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that
anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the
synagogue. Therefore his parents said, ‘He is of age; ask him.’
So for the second time they called the man who had
been blind, and they said to him, ‘Give glory to God! We know that this man is
a sinner.’ He answered, ‘I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I
do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’ They said to him, ‘What did
he do to you? How did he open your eyes?’ He answered them, ‘I have told
you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you
also want to become his disciples?’ Then they reviled him, saying, ‘You
are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has
spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.’ The
man answered, ‘Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes
from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to
sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never
since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person
born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.’ They
answered him, ‘You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?’
And they drove him out.]
Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he
said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ He answered, ‘And who
is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.’ Jesus said to
him, ‘You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.’ He said,
‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshipped him. [Jesus said, ‘I came
into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those
who do see may become blind.’ Some of the Pharisees near him heard this
and said to him, ‘Surely we are not blind, are we?’ Jesus said to them,
‘If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, “We see”,
your sin remains.]
John 9:1-41 in Filipio Sign Language
Blind Pensioner with a Stick
Van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]
Van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]
In his homily on the
Solemnity of the Annunciation in 2014 Pope Francis said, Salvation
cannot be bought and sold; it is given as a gift, it is free . .
. We cannot save ourselves, salvation is a totally free gift.
The Pope continued: Since it cannot be bought, in order for this
salvation to enter into us we need a humble heart, a docile heart, an obedient
heart like Mary's. Moreover, the model on this journey of salvation
is God himself, his Son, who did not count equality with God something to be
grasped, but emptied himself, and was obedient unto death, even death on a
cross.
All of the people in this Sunday's gospel had been
given the gift of faith but only the man who received the gift of sight from
Jesus professed his faith openly, his faith in Jesus: Lord, I believe.
Not only that, he began to share the gift of his faith with others, most
especially the Pharisees who were trying to intimidate him. They proclaimed
themselves as disciples of Moses. As such, they should have been prepared for
the coming of the Messiah who was now among them.
But they had developed a sense of 'proprietorship'
of their faith, a righteous complacency that blinded them to the extent that
they dismissed a man who was born blind as a sinner with nothing from which
they could learn. The man born blind, on the other hand, has an acute sense of
being gifted, by the gift of sight and by the gift of faith. He is an
embodiment of the thrust of Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel.
Our Christian faith
is a gift that can be lost by an individual and by a whole community. The
Church flourished in North Africa and in the Middle East before Islam came into
being but the vast majority lost the gift of our faith. In our own lifetime the
faith has been rapidly disappearing from places such as Belgium, Ireland, the
Netherlands, Quebec. Fifty years ago these places were sending missionaries to
every part of the world and their seminaries were full. Now most of the
seminaries have been closed down. Just over 100 years ago CICM brothers and
priests (Scheut Missionaries, Missionhurst) and ICM Sisters went to the
mountains of northern Luzon in the Philippines from a part of Europe that is as flat as a billiard
table, most of Belgium and the Netherlands. In February 2014 Belgium made it legal for sick children to be killed, to be put down like sick
animals. There was little international reaction to this, though there was to
the putting down of a healthy giraffe in a zoo in Denmark a few days
earlier.
There still are people in these
places and others like them who are living the Christian life faithfully, often
heroically. Martyrs such as Fr Ragheed Ganni of Iraq and politician Shahbaz Bhatti of Pakistan are outstanding examples.
Another is the late Professor Jérôme Lejeune, doctor and
researcher, who in 1958 discovered the cause of Down Syndrome (trisomy 21).
Servant of God
In so many places in the gospel we find
Jesus going out to those considered unimportant such as the blind man in
today's gospel. Pope Francis met with thousands of persons who are blind or
profoundly deaf on Saturday 29 March 2014, the first ever such gathering
in the Vatican. And there were probably some present who were both deaf and
blind.
John Milton, who went blind as an adult, in his
poem On His Blindness (below) shows an acceptance of what he
calls his mild yoke and a sense of our sight and everything
else being gifts from God.
Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium No 264 gives us some pointers:
We need to implore his grace daily, asking him to
open our cold hearts and shake up our lukewarm and superficial existence . . .
How good it is to stand before a crucifix, or on our knees before the Blessed
Sacrament, and simply to be in his presence!
The best incentive for sharing the Gospel comes
from contemplating it with love, lingering over its pages and reading it with
the heart.
Sometimes we lose our enthusiasm for mission
because we forget that the Gospel responds to our deepest needs, since we were
created for what the Gospel offers us: friendship with Jesus and love of our
brothers and sisters.
The words of Pope Francis suggest a basic attitude
of gratitude to God such as we see in the man who tells everyone, One
thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.
Somewhat different from the Pharisees' Surely
we are not blind, are we?
Which statement/question reflects my stance before
God?
On His
Blindness by John
Milton
When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
"Doth God exact day-labour, light
denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait."
Being different, it's normal
This video, posted by the Jerome Lejeune Foundation USA, is, I think, an eye-opener.
Other Prayer Resources from the Bishops of IrelandPope Francis’ Prayer to Mary during the coronavirus pandemic
O Mary,
you always shine on our path
as a sign of salvation and of hope.
We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick,
who at the cross took part in Jesus’ pain, keeping your faith firm.
You, Salvation of the Roman People,
know what we need,
and we are sure you will provide
so that, as in Cana of Galilee,
we may return to joy and to feasting
after this time of trial.
Help us, Mother of Divine Love,
to conform to the will of the Father
and to do as we are told by Jesus,
who has taken upon himself our sufferings
and carried our sorrows
to lead us, through the cross,
to the joy of the resurrection. Amen.
you always shine on our path
as a sign of salvation and of hope.
We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick,
who at the cross took part in Jesus’ pain, keeping your faith firm.
You, Salvation of the Roman People,
know what we need,
and we are sure you will provide
so that, as in Cana of Galilee,
we may return to joy and to feasting
after this time of trial.
Help us, Mother of Divine Love,
to conform to the will of the Father
and to do as we are told by Jesus,
who has taken upon himself our sufferings
and carried our sorrows
to lead us, through the cross,
to the joy of the resurrection. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment