4th SUN LENT – Lenten Blindness / Homily Audio

     Another reflection about flagging Lenten resolutions:  Why do we give up on Lent?  What happens when you commit to fast, give alms, or pray?  What does this have to do with being blind – as seen in our gospel.

My resolution: give away 8 things a week for a year.  Tons of anxiety has surfaced since I’m doing this – I’m about discovering that which I avoid by having “stuff.”  I think that’s the goal of fasting (find our hungers), almsgiving (“there’s never enough!”), or prayer (I’m allergic to vulnerability).

The man born blind knew he was blind, knew he was a beggar.  The Pharisees claimed to see, yet went about reinforcing their blindness.  They wouldn’t look at the inner emotions that drove them.

And the Pharisees made both the man born blind AND Jesus pay for their unwillingness to deal with their inner fears and grudges…

We inflate with anger when faced by threats to our prestige, way of doing things, ambitions – and make others pay the price for not dealing with our woundedness.  “People loved darkness rather than light… for all who do evil avoid the light that their deeds might not be exposed…”

The beggar born blind saw all this more clearly after he washed the mud from his eyes.  And he came eventually to recognize Jesus and worship him.

For us:  “I don’t know what to do about my fear or anger that drives me.  Help me bring it to the Light of Christ.”

Remember:  “You came to the aid of mortal beings with your divinity and even fashioned for us a remedy out of mortality itself that the cause of our downfall become the means of our salvation through Christ our Lord.”

That’s really good news!