Poem: "The Opening of Eyes" by David Whyte

That day I saw beneath dark clouds
the passing light over the water
and I heard the voice of the world speak out,
I knew then, as I had before
life is no passing memory of what has been
nor the remaining pages in a great book
waiting to be read.

It is the opening of eyes long closed.
It is the vision of far off things
seen for the silence they hold.
It is the heart after years
of secret conversing
speaking out loud in the clear air.

It is Moses in the desert
fallen to his knees before the lit bush.
It is the man throwing away his shoes
as if to enter heaven
and finding himself astonished,
opened at last,
fallen in love with solid ground.

Fourth Sunday in Lent

April 3, 2011

1 Samuel 16; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41

The healing of the man born blind story in John gives an example of the challenges of witnessing to Jesus during hostile times. The onlookers to the miracle learned that Jesus must be 'of God,' not the sinner that the Jewish teachers claim he is. After the healed man is expelled from the synagogue, Jesus reveals that he is the "Son of Man" and the blind man comes to worship him. The man comes to true faith in Jesus, who is represented as the Light.

The man born blind shares in the experiences of the Johannine community. As Jewish-Christians, they are kicked out of the synagogue by the Jewish brethren and they have no place to worship. They are despondent as they cannot worship their God in their customary way. They grieve because "the Jews," their closest allies, are hostile to them. "The Jews" forbid the Christians from being part of their customs. Jesus, as he does with all the great Jewish liturgical feasts in John, declares the liturgical feasts and all worship is done through him. Therefore, no synagogue, Temple, or other place of worship can compare to the person of Jesus as the place of worship.

When John writes about "the Jews," he is writing about a particular group of Jews in Greece that share much in common with the Johannine Christians. The followers of Jesus considered themselves to be Jews themselves so in no way is this remark an anti-Semitic slight. This particular group was choosing to follow the rabbinic tradition that was developing and they were separating themselves from the Jewish-Christians. They, too, experienced deep loss in the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. and they were refining their own liturgical practices and customs. Thus, they were hostile to the group of Christians who saw John as their interpreter of the life of Jesus.

God's work is made visible through the man born blind and some will come to faith in Jesus because of him; others will harden their hearts, but they can't deny that something extraordinary has happened. The once-blind man is the one who comes to true belief because he is able to see more fully with his heart. He gains greater understanding of who Jesus is and he incrementally sees his as a prophet, a man of God, the Son of Man, and finally as Lord. Faith is a process that deepens with our understanding and trust and our greater attentiveness to Jesus.

The once-blind man is set in contrast to his hostile adversaries. They come to see Jesus as a sinner because he healed on the Sabbath - a violation of their Mosaic Law. They look at the evidence and refuse to see. They are the ones who have become blind. They cannot construct any coherent explanation using their human logic and they revert to their rigid assertion about a technicality. They close their minds down and stay in the darkness while the once-blind man opens his mind and walks in the light.

This story is an example of the ways we are to remain open to the possibilities that God has for us. When we close our minds, rigidly hold onto positions we cannot explain, and conserve what we know, we become like the religious leaders whose logical arguments cannot explain reality. We close our minds to light and knowledge. When we strive to know, search for answers, and open our hearts and minds to the infinite possibilities, we become like the once-blind man who lives in the freedom of the light. He silences his objections and learns to see with his heart so that his world is transformed. He comes to sight. He choose the light. He comes to true belief.

Themes for this Week’s Masses

First Reading: In Isaiah, the Lord is excited to tell about the new creation that will take place when he people are happy and rejoicing once again. In Ezekiel, an angel brought the prophet to the temple where life-giving water flowed from every direction. In Isaiah, the Lord has not forsaken his people. He will provide favor on the day of salvation. In Exodus, Moses is commanded to go down to the people to demolish the molten calf and bring the people back to the Lord. In Wisdom, the veracity of the just one is tested by heaping upon him all kinds of diversity. In Jeremiah, the prophet realizes plots are being hatched against him because of his righteousness.

Gospel: After his first miracle, Jesus travels to Galilee and heals the near-death son of a royal official. In Jerusalem, Jesus heals the 38-year stricken paralyzed man near the pool at the Sheep Gate. As Jesus is questioned for healing on the Sabbath and calling God his own father, he testifies that God is at work in him now. He does not accept human praise, but only that of the Father, and the one who will accuse them is Moses, the one in whom they place their hope. Jesus spent time in Galilee because he knew the Jews were trying to kill him. As the Tabernacle Feast neared, he goes back to Jerusalem to hear the dialogue about him. He reveals himself again, but escapes from their attempts to arrest him. Many are coming to believe in Jesus. Even the guards feared arresting him because no one else has even spoken like him. Nicodemus steps in and disperses the crowds with his evocative questioning.

Saints of the Week

Monday - Isidore, bishop and Doctor (560-636), was a Spanish nobleman who served as Archbishop of Seville for almost 40 years. As an educated man, he was known for a teaching style that served the country's progressive interests. Among his accomplishments was a compilation of an extensive encyclopedia, a dictionary, theological treatises, and a historical work on the Goths and Visigoths.

Tuesday - Vincent Ferrer, priest (1350-1419), was a Spanish Dominican who became a professor of philosophy at age 21. He later taught theology and Hebrew. Despite this conservative interpretations of the Christian message, his preaching was successful in bringing converts to baptism. He helped settle the Western Schism.

Thursday - John Baptist de la Salle, priest (1651-1719), was a French nobleman who helped establish charity schools after his ordination. He trained the teachers for these schools hands-on. Because the schools were popular, he formed the Brothers of Christian Schools for the poor and the privileged. He set up teacher training colleges to educate potential teachers.

This Week in Jesuit History

·         Apr 3, 1583. The death of Jeronimo Nadal, one of the original companions of Ignatius who later entrusted him with publishing and distributing the Jesuit Constitutions to the various regions of the early Society.

·         Apr 4, 1534. Peter Faber was ordained a deacon in Paris.

·         Apr 5, 1635. The death of Louis Lallemant, writer and spiritual teacher.

·         Apr 6, 1850. The first edition of La Civilta Cattolica was issued. It was the first journal of the restored Society.

·         Apr 7, 1541. Ignatius was unanimously elected general, but he declined to accept the results.

·         Apr 8, 1762. The French Parliament issued a decree of expulsion of the Jesuits from all their colleges and houses.

·         Apr 9, 1615. The death of William Weston, minister to persecuted Catholics in England and later an author who wrote about his interior life during that period.

Lenten Scrutinies

Candidates (baptized) and catechumen (unbaptized) who have been preparing this past year for their sacraments during the Easter season will be scrutinized by their church and their community of faith. This second of the three scrutinies is conducted this week.

In Cycle A, the second scrutiny is from John 9: The man born blind; the third is from John 11: Raising Lazarus from the dead.

Homily for Matthew 18:21-35 (On Reconciliation)

We treat forgiveness much too simplistically and this passage from Matthew doesn't provide helpful insight because at the end Jesus tells us that the heavenly Father will treat us like the master who will hand us over to the torturers unless each of us forgives our brother or sister from our heart. Somehow, it doesn't seem like the Father is forgiving seventy-seven times. O.K. We know not to take the words of this parable literally because Jesus is trying to uphold the crucial virtue forgiveness in the life of a disciple. He knows that if we forgive others, we live a reconciled life with them and with God.

Our Christian traditions give us un-clarified information about how and when we are to forgive. Notice what we are instructed to do in the Catholic confessional or, in contemporary terms, the  reconciliation room. We are to confess our sins and our sins of omission. The focus is upon how we have failed to do the right thing. Peter, however, asks a very different question and it is enlightening for the shift it brings. He asks, "If my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him?" We are to look at the unjust action that was done to us rather than our wrongness or badness. We first have to deal with the wrong done to us first. Before we can ever get to forgiveness, it is best if we look at healing. What about reconciliation? This is an altogether different concept and that comes further down the road.

Christ has to reconcile us to ourselves before we can forgive another. When someone has wronged us, the last thing we want to do is say, “I forgive you.” The first thing we want to say is, “Stop it. Don’t do that. I’m angry with you. You have no right to treat me like that. I don’t deserve to have you transgress my boundaries.” How many of us actually say this? If we did this more often and immediately, we would stop many people from treating us as we don’t deserve. We would help the person to see the healthy proper ways to respect boundaries.

Instead, we want to be kind. We are told to be a good boy or good girl and not to get mad. We want to keep the peace and avoid conflict. Damn it! Conflict is good if it is done respectfully. It is because of conflict that we grow and we begin to hold another’s desires with greater respect. We have to work to achieve a mutually beneficial result. It is only when people in conflict are able to express their desires and needs in a way that we can be heard that we get enough information to make an informed decision or a loving choice.

We arrive at a problem though. We don’t respect our emotions and desires. When not dealt with in good health, we stew with emotions afterwards. It tears us up and it sets us off into an emotional whirlwind. Why? Our emotions need an appropriate outlet. If we don’t deal with our emotions forthrightly and immediately, we deal with them afterwards – often alone, silently, sometimes in a tormenting way – and they come out of us sideways. They come out in ways that we do not intend, and these ways are not healthy for us or for the other person. How many times has a person been labeled by his or her emotions? “He’s an angry man; She’s a witch; He’s a sarcastic, cynical man; Don’t trust her. She is a gossip.” We are identified with our feelings. Wouldn’t you rather hear about yourself? “He’s a kind man. I’d like to know him” or “She is always so happy. I wish I knew her secret?” or "You have a beautiful smile."

Jesus Christ wants you to let him into your feelings and desires. He wants to be able to say to you, “I want to help you. Will you tell me what is going on with you? Please? I don’t want you to do this alone? Please?” How do we respond? We say, “He knows what I’m going through. I’ve told him hundreds of times before.” Well. Have you really allowed a conversation with him to develop? We recycle things in our mind and we feel the veracity of our emotions, but sitting down and telling him about the swirling turbulence in our lives so that he can hear it and respond to it is a different matter. We think things like, "I feel alone. No one can know what I am going through; I don’t believe he really has something personal to say to me; I've been over this with him before; Jesus is God and all, a really nice man, but he really doesn’t care about what is happening to me. If he did, he would have done something long ago; Yes, Jesus is God, but he doesn't have time to bother with my small insignificant problems." We simply don’t believe that what he thinks really matters. If we did, we might give him a chance to speak, or better yet, a chance to show us compassion and care and concern.

We experience a moment of healing when we physically feel his hand placed on our heart, or he takes our hand into his, or he births something new is us, or we lean back and fall asleep to realize we were in his arms, or he simply smiles and looks at us tenderly, or he strokes our cheek with the brush of his hand. At this we realize he was always there, and we know that he heard us, and that seems to be enough. He might not have to speak; his actions speak what words can't communicate. This is the point we know he is healing us and reconciling us to ourselves. Being loved first means that we can love another. Being healed first means we can reach out to our brother and sister who sinned against us and forgive them for their actions. Only the deeper love, the deeper affection of Christ, can redeem us.

Peter asks, “How often must I forgive?” Seventy-seven times is the answer. It means that we have to learn to love ourselves seventy-seven times a day. If forgiveness is a daily choice, and the first step of forgiveness is loving ourselves, then we have to first love ourselves seventy-seven times a day. Respect your boundaries. Fight for them. Own your feelings and desires. Speak about them as often as you can. Let your heart have ascendancy over your head. Tell them to Christ several times a day and discover where and when he is present to you.

Let others do their own work and speak of their desires. You are only responsible for your own feelings. You will find Christ affirming you and giving you strength – through courage and energy. You will begin to live again in the way God intended from the very beginning. Your desires are good. They are very good. As your honor and respect them, Christ will honor and respect you. Your brother and sister will honor and respect you as well. When you demand they respect your boundaries, fewer and fewer people – maybe only unhealthy ones – will transgress them. You will find liberation in claiming who you are and you will act out of love that begets deeper love.

Forgiveness is a lengthy patient process in which God's glory will be revealed as you live with integrity and validation. This is to what Christ calls you. Isn’t it what we want? Step forth on the marvelous journey of healing, love, and forgiveness. In fact, let us run to the heart God who loves us more than we can ever imagine - to a place where nothingness, resignation, and despair are over and done with. Let us enter the brand new world made brighter by Christ's liberation of your unredeemed messiness. Let us share in Christ’s victory over chaos.

Literature: "The Fall" by Albert Camus

I was at ease in everything to be sure, but at the same time satisfied with nothing. Each joy made me desire another. I went from festivity to festivity. On occasion I danced for nights on end, ever madder about people and life. At times, late on those nights when dancing, the slight intoxication, my wild enthusiasm, everyone's violent unrestraint would fill me with a tired and overwhelmed rapture, it would seem to me - that at last I understood the secret of creatures of the world. But my fatigue would disappear the next day, and with it the secret ... Because I longed for eternal life, I went to bed with harlots and drank for nights on end.

Prayer: "Beloved" by Toni Morrison

There's a loneliness that can be rocked. Arms crossed, knees drawn up; holding, holding on, this motion, unlike a ship's, smooths and contains the rocker. It's an inside kind - wrapped tight like skin. Then there is a loneliness that roams. No rocking can hold it down. It is alive, on its own. A dry and spreading thing that makes the sound of one's own feet seem to come from a far-off place.

Const.: GC 34, Decree 4: “Our Mission and Culture”, par. 9

Our ministry of evangelizing culture will be a ministry of consolation when it is guided by ways that bring to light the character of God’s activity in those cultures, and which strengthen our sense of the divine mystery. But our efforts will be misguided, and even destructive, when our activity runs contrary to the grain of his presence in the cultures which the church addresses, or when we claim to exercise sole proprietorial rights over the affairs of God.

The First Scrutiny

Lord, you call these chosen ones to the glory of a new birth in Christ, the second Adam. Help them grow in wisdom and love as they prepare to profess their faith in you. Grant this through Christ our Lord.

Spring is coming!

Prayer: Elizabeth Johnson – Consider Jesus p. 123

There is excessive suffering of the innocent, the undeserved suffering of millions of people at the hands of other people who gain advantage from this. The suffering is like a surd in history. It does not make sense; it wrecks every theory constructed to explain it. This is the deep mystery of evil at work in the world.