The blind man in today’s Gospel is a very important figure for all of us to consider. From our birth, we have all been affected by sin and the spiritual blindness that comes with it. But thanks be to God, through our baptism, we know about God and we believe in Jesus as God’s Son, our Savior and Redeemer. Baptism has given us the light of faith and understanding. But our blindness is not entirely removed. There are still blind spots that affect us and the people around us. We are not able to discover them or change without God’s help. Today is a day that we open ourselves to God’s grace: to be touched by Jesus and begin a new life!
In the story, Jesus uses his saliva and earth to make clay. We remember the story of creation in Genesis when God formed man out of the slime of the earth. Jesus smears the slimy clay on the man’s eyes and instructs him to wash in the pool—symbolizing baptism. In baptism we were washed clean from our sin and we became born again; that is created anew spiritually as a child of God. The darkness of sin has been removed and we walk as children of God by the light-vision of faith. But our journey of faith is not an easy path. At times we are misled or wander astray not entirely certain of the right way to go. We experience doubt, confusion, fear, love, passion and pleasure. Some of what we experience or perceive to be good we discover later on wasn’t good; it wasn’t what we thought it was. When that happens, we turn to God asking for pardon and begin again our journey of faith renewed by God’s cleansing mercy. Through this process, we experience an increase in our faith. We are more enlightened with spiritual vision and understanding. We are more firm at applying our faith to daily life.
Remember, Lent is a season of Kairos , that is a special time when the Lord is at work with us helping us to see more clearly the path for a closer life with him. If we are sincere, Jesus will help us avoid things that cause us problems by showing us what they are and then showing us the way to avoid them.
May God bless you all during this holy season! +++ Fr. Peter