Deacon Larry Jesmer

In today’s gospel story Jesus gives the gift of sight to a blind man. But since we are not blind, we might think that this gospel story has no relevance for us. It is because we can see that this story does have relevance. The question is-how well do we see?

The blind man in this gospel story saw more than the religious leaders because he had faith in Jesus. When explaining to his neighbors and those who saw him as a beggar, about what Jesus did to him, the blind man said; “Jesus made clay and ANOINTED my eyes”.

Notice that the blind man did not say, “Jesus made clay and put it on my eyes”, he said anointed. The word anointed signified the consecration of the blind man for a special purpose; to be a testimony to others of the goodness and divineness of Jesus; to be  a disciple. By the virtue of the blind man’s faith, he did see and by his openness to see Jesus for who he is, gained spiritual sight. The Pharisees had perfect eyesight yet they had no faith in Jesus, thus they remained spiritually blind.

We can become blind for many reasons and in many different ways: Selfishness blinds us to the needs of others. Greed blinds us to those who have nothing and disregards those who are hurt along the way. Pride blinds us to our own faults and weaknesses. 

Prejudice blinds us from seeing every human being as the image and likeness of God.

Materialism blinds us to the values in faith.

Spiritual blindness makes us feel empty, judgmental, lonely, depressed, and disconnected. The greatest failure of sight is to have eyes and refuse to see. This was the situation with the Pharisees. They lived by the letter of the law instead of the spirit of the law. They were disconnected from those whom they were supposed to of served. They were blinded by their self-indulgence and pride.

In the first reading, we see David, son of Jesse, anointed King of Israel despite whom Samuel thought was to be anointed, Eliab, another of Jesse’s sons. God saw into David’s heart.

Let us take a moment, right now, and close our eyes. If you can, please keep them closed until I tell you to open them. In this darkness, does your heart ache for those who are starving around the world?

In this darkness, does your heart ache when you hear of the atrocities in the loss of life through the killing of the unborn  child?

In this darkness, does your heart ache when you hear of all the loss of life stemming from wars abroad?

In this darkness, does your heart ache when you hear of all the injustices that are done to those who are defenseless?

In this darkness, can you feel the presence of Jesus?

I invite you now to open your eyes.

We do not see only with our eyes, as you just experienced. We also “See” with our hearts, minds, and our imaginations. When we neglect our heart, mind, and imagination, we have loss of sight, of vision. We have darkness in our lives and we open ourselves to the tempting of the Devil.

I remember a time where everything in and around my life seemed jumbled up and in a real mess. I struggled between holding on to the things of this world or reaching out in faith.

We see through the eyes of faith (the conversion of heart). The gospel story is a journey of faith – the story of a man who came to faith in Jesus and the climax ending with his profession of faith when he said: “Lord, I believe”.

This story of blindness to sight shows the journey from un-belief to faith, which is the journey from darkness to light, which allows us to see. Paul said to the Ephesians: “Once you were in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord”. Without faith, we are as in the night without light or sight. We cannot see our way and we become lost.

We can in our time of need, reach out. We can open our eyes and see by the light of Jesus, coming closer to him through prayer. We can see clearer by reading and meditating on Holy Scripture, by spending and hour in prayer during the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on first Fridays, by getting involved in one of the parish ministries, and by reaching out to help the poor and less fortunate in our communities.

We see by his light through the sacraments and the ultimate in the conversion of heart by receiving Jesus into our lives through his body and blood in the Eucharist.

Those, who have been enlightened by Christ to see more clearly can never again look at themselves and their lives in the same light as before. Everything is lit up inside in our hearts, our minds, and our imaginations.

We now can see Jesus as the model for our lives. We can now open ourselves to the Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds to have wisdom when we need to think and talk wisely. This is what happened to the man who could now see when interrogated by the Pharisees.

We see Jesus when we open our eyes through the imagination, to see him all around us, to see him in the face of a child reaching out in unconditional love, to see Him in line at the soup kitchen. We feel his presence when we reach out to others in love.

My sisters and Brothers: Faith helps us find our way through the chaos, the business and darkness of the modern world. The real discovery in today’s scripture is the awareness of having new eyes, seeing everything and everyone in a new light, having conversion of heart, finding faith through Jesus Christ.