Fourth Sunday of Lent
But the LORD said to Samuel: “Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. Ephesians 5:8-9
Then Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.” John 9:39
Piety
The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. In green pastures you let me graze; to safe waters you lead me; you restore my strength. You guide me along the right path for the sake of your name.
Even when I walk through a dark valley, I fear no harm for you are at my side; your rod and staff give me courage. You set a table before me as my enemies watch; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Only goodness and love will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come. Amen.
Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/030208.shtml
Piety is the restorable of sight. Sight gives us vision. Glasses improve our vision. In youth we see so much more without needing to strain our eyes. As we get older, our sight needs the help glasses bring. Our spiritual life brings us the glasses of the soul. Being around people that see better than ourselves improves our vision of what is important to our Christ life. Christ identifies himself as the light of the soul. When the dawn of the Son of God comes up in our lives, he will be brighter than the moon that gives sight to the night and the sun that overshadows the darkness with a light that seems so bright.
We are like the blind man of today’s gospel who did not know that Christ was near because he could not see. The light of Christ comes into our lives even as we wash our souls in the blood and the water that is the source of the Sacramental life of the Church. Our spiritual journey got its jump start in our being washed in the waters of Baptism. We were born again. Parents, godparents and community took it upon themselves to be the light of Christ for us. Religious Education opened our eyes to what belonged to God. The sermons of Mass exposed us to many ways of seeing the light of Christ around us. Scriptures exposed us to he presence of God in life. Prayer around the scriptures opened our eyes to the many ways that God is around us. Yet many have eyes and see not.
Many look at our world and only see appearances. We are blessed when we look beyond the appearances and see what God is saying to us in the love that makes our lives possible.
We were blind, but now we see. Light and sight meet in Jesus Christ. In our own fullness of time we become aware of God filling our lives in the love that makes our world go round. We know that wherever there is love, God is there. The Hidden Life Grace makes sense out of the thirty years of Christ out of the public view. Seeing Christ at
Action
Love has its price for all of us as we give our lives for the sake of those we love.
Our piety, study and action calls us to love in the vision of Christ we have in the hungry, thirst, naked, prisoners, sick and the needy of life. Christ calls us to be his hands and his feet so that he can be seen in who we are even as we see him in those we serve. Unlike the parents of the blind man of the Gospel, we know we see our world through the eyes of Christ even as our piety and study bring us to be the Christs of today.
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