PEACE-LENT 2023: Fourth Sunday of Lent
March 19, 2023: 1 Samuel 16: 1,6-7,10-13; Ephesians 5: 8-14; John 9: 1-41
"We are children of the Light", the readings remind us today and invite us to live in the light, as a way to lasting peace! To awake from the slumber of the darkness, to avoid the works of the people of darkness and to acknowledge being anointed to announce the good news to the world - that is the call to be children of the light. We have the light within us, the Light of the world is with us, we are lighted to shine, we are lighted to shine as testimonies to the Light that longs to lead everyone to fullness of life, to eternal peace!
We are called to SEE. Blindness is not merely of the physical eye... blindness of the heart to perceive the something that is so apparent is the worst of all blindness. Physical blindness is a handicap, but Spiritual blindness sometimes is a choice, a choice against something obvious! Not to see the goodness of the other, not to see the good the other has done to you, not to see the great things that God has done for us, these are the blindnesses out of which the Lord calls us today.
Most times, the lack of peace that we face in our heart and in our situation is our own making. It is our own way of creating a darkness all around us, that we become so incapable of seeing. Sometimes the darkness within us, surround us so much that we may find comfortable living within it. That was the problem of the pharisees and the scribes: they were so cosy in their own world but Jesus disturbed them! They thought they were peaceful and Jesus was raking up a storm; but in fact they were deceived in a false comfort and Jesus was challenging them to true peace, by opening their eyes. He called them to light, he called them to awake. The Word today, calls us to AWAKE and see the Light, shining on us! That is first step to true peace.
We are called to SEE LIKE GOD. As children of God we are called, not just to see, but to see like God. The first reading presents to us an incident where the Lord gives us a practical lesson for our life. David, the least of all in the family of Jesse was chosen against all odds to be the ruler of Israel. There are other such occasions too that we find in the Bible: Joseph the sold slave, Gideon the weakling, Esther the orphan girl and so on. The message is clear: to see like God.
As the Lord clarifies it (1 Sam 16:7), the Lord sees the heart and not the external appearances; the Lord sees the internal disposition and not the eternal display; the Lord sees the interior openness and not a stubborn self righteousness. To see like God would mean to avoid the works of the people of darkness, who try to close their eyes to any good that someone can do because of a prejudice they have at heart; who look for any lame excuse to judge and vilify others merely because they do not like the other; who look at others as threats and wait to see their ruin. Avoid the works of darkness and put on the armour of Light!
We are called to MAKE OTHERS SEE GOD. We are anointed people of God, chosen children of God. Peter reminds us in his letter, "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Pet 1:9). By our baptism we have been anointed and by the sacrament of confirmation we are confirmed in the anointing - that we are to announce to the world the good news of the love of God. That we may see and see like God, we are given the Light of the Lord. The Light shines within us with such splendour that it radiates to the world around us! We guarantee peace not just in our hearts but in the situation we live in, in the society and in the whole world.
If we can say like that blind man in the Gospel - "One thing I know, I was blind and now I can see!" - we are testimonies to the Light that shines within us, the Light that can give meaning to the world, the Light that alone can lead us to true peace and loving communion. When we really see and see like God, the works of God will be made visible through us and that is what we are called to. Let us thank God for having given us God's light and let us be lighted to be testimonies of the the Light of the world.