Just a few months ago, we were celebrating the joyous season of Christmas. We filled our homes and even the streets with decorations which helped set the mood and filled our hearts with gladness. No one could have missed seeing Nativity scenes. They were everywhere – in our homes, the streets, the malls, and of course, inside every Catholic church. But there is one further element that stands out during Christmas: the lights! Christmas would not be the same without Christmas lights. But why so many lights? To remind us that the Child in the manger is the Light of the world. He is the Light who illumines our way back to the Father.
In Lent, we shift our reflection from the Babe in the manger to the Man of suffering on the Cross. Does his suffering and death mean that he ceases to be the Light? No; his light penetrates even the deepest darkness of sin and death. The Cross lifts up the Light that all may see him and find hope in his mercy.
Light is associated with the sense of sight, an important part of our overall health. Today’s Gospel reminds us that Jesus, the Light of the world, is a healer, bringing health to body and spirit. In giving sight to a man born blind, Jesus gives him not only bodily well-being but spiritual health as well. With the gift of physical sight, Jesus opens the window of the man’s soul, so that he can recognize Jesus. For Jesus is not an ordinary sinner or even merely a prophet but the Son of Man. The once-blind man does not stop at the stage of recognition alone. With humility, he cooperates with the gift of faith and bows down before Jesus in worship. He chooses to “take no part in the fruitless works of darkness,” as we read in today’s second reading. He starts to live as one of the “children of light,” for Christ has given him light.
The blindness of this man became an occasion to reveal the power of the Father at work in his Son, Jesus. Human weakness became an avenue for showing God’s power to the world. As Jesus said to the disciples who asked about the man’s blindness, “it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.”
However, not everyone sees Jesus’ actions as the work of God; not everyone comes to faith. Sadly, in this case, those who are supposed to be knowledgeable in the things of God and the law are the ones who resist the most. They accuse both the man and Jesus himself of being sinners. The worst kind of blindness is not brought on by any illness or physical injury but comes from within. The Pharisees choose not to see. Blinded by intellectual pride, they think they are faithful to the law, but they miss the most important law of all, the law of love. Yet they insist that they can see – so their sin remains.
We are being warned by the bad example of the Pharisees and encouraged by the good example of the blind man. If we choose to follow the lead of the blind man who became a disciple, we will begin to see everything in the light of Christ. The choice to follow the light counteracts the pride that blinds us. The nearer we draw to the Light, the better we can see, by the power of grace and faith. This is part of the work of Lent, to go beyond physical appearances and to learn to see as God sees – to see goodness in each person and to be sensitive to the promptings of the Light. May we recognize the true Light and choose to live as children of Light! When we come to the Easter Vigil, we will welcome the Resurrection of Christ, singing with grateful hearts, “Lumen Christi! Deo Gratias!” The Light of Christ! Thanks be to God!
How can I let the Light of Christ penetrate more deeply the darkness of pride and sin in my life? What is my response when I receive the light to see my weakness and sin? How does receiving the Light of Christ strengthen me to speak with truth and love?
Excerpt from The Anawim Way, Volume 22, no. 3. More information about The Anawim Way may be found here.