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| "The Blind Man Washes in the Pool of Siloam," by J. Tissot. Brooklyn Museum / Public Domain. |
I wrote this homily in 1999 for the
Fourth Sunday of Lent to preach at a parish where many were preparing to
receive Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist at Easter.
The Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Lent in Year A
1 Samuel 16:1b,6-7,10-13a
1 Samuel 16:1b,6-7,10-13a
Ephesians 5:8-14
John 9:1-41
Today we
witnessed God sending the prophet Samuel to pour holy oil on the young man
David.
This holy
oil of anointing changed David, because from that day
on, the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David.
The Spirit
of God rushed upon David through a prophet pouring holy oil.
In his
Gospel today, Christ does something similar for a man born blind.
However,
instead of anointing the blind man with holy oil, Christ spits in the dirt,
makes mud out of it, rubs it onto the blind man’s eyes and sends him to wash it
off.
The blind
man goes to wash, and two changes happen for him.
First
change: he begins to see for the first
time in his life.
Second
change: faith and worship.
The Gospel
tells us Christ went looking for the man who could now see, found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
The man
with newborn eyes answered and said, “Who is he, sir,
that I may believe in him?”
Jesus
said to him, “You are seeing him, and the one speaking with you is he.”
The man
said to Christ, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him.
Again, the
first CHANGE: a blind man begins to see.
The second
CHANGE: he has faith in Christ and
worships him.
In the
first reading, the prophet Samuel anointed young David, CHANGING him by pouring
oil on him, and the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David.
Christ
anointed a blind man with muddy spit and sent him to wash.
The blind
man received his sight, saw Christ, believed in him and worshiped him.
This tells
us that the Spirit of the Lord also rushed upon that man.
Like this
man with new sight, if we believe in Christ the Son of God and are here now
truly to humble ourselves in the worship of Christ and his Father, then their
Holy Spirit has also now rushed upon us.
Our
believing in Christ comes from the Spirit at work within us.
Honest
worship of Christ also comes from the Spirit at work within us.
When our
daily lives reflect faith in Christ, and when our daily lives give honor to
Christ, it is because we have cooperated with the work of the Spirit that God
has poured out upon us.
We heard
today in the second reading what St. Paul wrote about our passing from the
blindness of sin into a life of light, faith and worship as the children of
God.
Brothers and sisters:
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.
Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
The power
of God’s Spirit takes us out of the darkness of sin, and gives us birth in the
light that shines on us from the Father’s eyes.
The Spirit
of God rushed upon David though holy oil that a prophet poured on David.
The Spirit
brought a blind man to sight, faith and worship through spit and mud that
Christ made and washing that Christ ordered.
In the
sacraments of Baptismal Washing, Confirming Oil of Anointing and the
Eucharistic Food and Drink, Christ, God the Son, comes to us and touches us.
In these
sacraments, God the Spirit rushes and works on us.
In these
sacraments, God the Father gives us new birth as his children.
The signs
that all this has taken place are very simple:
our faith
in the Father and the Son and the Spirit;
our
worship of the Father and the Son and the Spirit.
We must
work so that our daily lives show that we believe in God and honor him.
However,
when we fail to live out our faith, and when our actions dishonor God, we have
another sacrament that renews our faith and turns us around to face the light
of God who forgives his children.
Remember
that when Christ first began to preach, he said: REPENT...
and believe in the Gospel!
He did not
say only, “Believe in the Gospel!”
He said: REPENT... and believe in the Gospel!
Repentance
is the door of faith.
Repentance
is the doorway for the Spirit who brings and strengthens faith.
When we
confess our sins in the sacrament of Penance, we are letting Christ smear mud
on our sins and send us into the pool of the Spirit in which God bathes his
children.
If Christ
can use even spit and mud to bring sight, faith, and the Spirit to a blind man,
then he can use spit and mud— OR EVEN A PRIEST—
to bring the Spirit and to forgive sins.
We see
such a commission on the day Christ rose from the dead, when he breathed the
Spirit onto the apostles and said to them:
Receive
the Holy Spirit.
Whose
sins you forgive are forgiven them.
Brothers
and sisters, we must always repent of sin.
We must do
penance.
We must
receive the sacraments.
In this
way, renewal and strength increase our faith that the Son of God is with us,
that the Spirit of God is upon us, and that God the Father has already made us
his children.
Repent!
Believe in
the Gospel!
Give glory
to God!
We are
about to receive not just a prophet, not just holy oil, not spit or mud or cleansing
water.
We are
about to receive God the Son in his own Flesh and Blood that cause the Spirit
of God our Father to rush upon us.
Let us
repent.
Let us
believe.
Let us
give thanks to the Lord our God.
