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The Man Born Blind (Jn 9): Example of Steps in the Spiritual Life

Homily
Sunday, March 18, 2007, 4th Sunday of Lent, Year C

Today, the fourth Sunday of Lent, is known as “Laetáre Sunday.” This is from the first word of the Entrance Antiphon for today, “Laetáre, Rejoice! Rejoice, Jerusalem… rejoice with her, you who mourned for her…” Amid the penances of Lent, there is this latent joy, which at Easter will come forth as a flower from the bud, or as the sun after dark.

We have a further reason to rejoice this Easter, as we will be baptizing an adult at the Easter Vigil Mass. The Easter Vigil is the greatest of all the Masses of the Year, filled with ancient rites, long and musical and prayerful. In preparation for this, immediately after the homily this week and next, you will see the rite of Christian initiation for Adults as mandated by the Church, and as a community of faith bound by grace in the life of the Holy Trinity, we will pray for our candidate, and also for one another. I discuss more about baptism in this week’s bulletin article.

The reading today, regarding the man born blind, is especially useful for our meditation. Today’s communion verse (roughly verse 11 of the Gospel) is particularly striking: “The Lord rubbed my eyes: I went away and washed; then I could see, and I believed in God” (cf. comm. ant. of Mass; cf. Jn 9:11). There are five verbs, as a litany, and they form all together a marvelous summary of the spiritual life. I offer now a short reflection on each of these five verbs.

First, “The Lord rubbed my eyes.” The spiritual life starts with God’s initiative. Without God, we can do some good things, but never any good thing which merits eternal life; hence Jesus says, “Without me, you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5) Similarly, Jesus says, “the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing,” (Jn 5:19) for all good things initiate in the eternal Father. So if we have been baptized, if we live a Catholic life, let us always remember, such good things have been given to us by God as a gift of his mercy.

Second, “I went away.” The blind man went away, as Jesus had commanded him, and washed in the pool of Siloam. This represents the next step in our spiritual lives. After God takes the initiative, we have to obey his voice, for he speaks to us through our conscience. He had to go away, because to follow Christ, one can no longer belong to the world, the same world in which he lives. He has to be separate. “Holy” means, in essence, “separated,” “set apart” for God. The baptized have to be different from the flow of the world, a flow which casts about and spiritually kills the children of Adam and Eve. In the obedience of faith, he went away; as Abraham went away; as Moses went away; as David went away; as did the prophets, and even Jesus himself, especially when he fasted and prayed in the desert for forty days.

Third, “And I washed.” This is of course the washing from our sins. This happens first through baptism, by which original sin, actual sin and the temporal punishment due to sin are completely and unconditionally taken away. But concupiscence is not completely remedied, and so even the baptized struggle with sin. For sins after Baptism, yet again God shows his boundless and undeserved mercy towards us, that is, we can have sins after baptism absolved by the sacrament of confession. And so this is the third step, namely, repentance, renunciation of sin, and the washing of baptism and confession.

Now I address the fourth and fifth together. The man born blind says, “Then I could see, and I believed in God.” Only after the waters of baptism does supernatural faith reside in the soul. There is such a thing as natural faith, as we board a plane and trust that it will fly as we have been told it will, or when we take someone on their word. Yet there is a supernatural faith, by which God himself enlightens the mind – not with feelings, not with the light that shines in this world, but with grace. And by grace, God himself sustains faith. It is by this supernatural faith by which we truly know God. Baptism grants faith, and it is a treasure we must nourish with study, strengthen with the exercise of prayer, protect from destructive influences, and multiply by spreading the good news.

For our candidate for Baptism, named David after today’s first reading, (1 Sm 16:1-13 passim), the message of today’s Gospel passage, from John 9, is particularly applicable. Yet for all of us who have already been regenerated by the waters of baptism, we too need to grow daily in the spiritual life. And to one and all I therefore repeat the words of St. Paul, “Arise, o sleeper, from your sleep,” for God awakens you with his call. “Arise from the dead,” that is, the death of sin, original sin and actual or personal sins. “Christ will give you light,” and by a life of faith, the obedience of faith, a faith incarnated by good deeds, you will attain your eternal salvation. (cf. Eph 5:14) Amen.