WEBVTT 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:16.000 Sunday in the middle of Lent, this season of repentance, fasting, and self-examination, the church suddenly tells us to rejoice. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:22.559 The priest may wear rose vestments, the tone shifts. 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:26.000 The church gives us kind of an oasis. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:32.960 This is Letari Sunday from the word Letare meaning rejoice. 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:36.079 But notice something important. 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:43.039 The church is not telling us to rejoice because Lent is almost over. 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:49.280 We're not celebrating because the discipline is about to ease up. 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:54.719 We rejoice because God is doing something hopefully in us. 00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:00.159 And the gospel today shows us exactly what that something is. 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:06.319 Jesus encounters a man who has been blind from birth. 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:07.920 Think about that. 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:12.079 This man has never seen the sunrise. 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:15.840 He's never seen his parents' face. 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:18.879 He's never seen the beauty of creation. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:23.439 Darkness was the only world he knew. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:27.519 And then Jesus does something extraordinary. 00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:37.359 He spits on the ground, makes mud, places it on the man's eyes, and tells him to go and wash in the pool of Salem. 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:41.760 At first glance it may seem strange. 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:43.599 Why the mud? 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:51.599 Well, the early Christian community would have immediately seen the connection. 00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:57.120 In Genesis, God creates the man from dust of the earth. 00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:01.680 He forms Adam from clay and breathes life into him. 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:10.560 So when Jesus takes dust and forms mud and places it on the man's eyes, this is not random. 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:13.039 It's an act of creation. 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:19.199 Christ is not simply healing the man, he is recreating him. 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:22.479 He's doing what only God can do. 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:26.560 But here's the deeper point of the story. 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:31.759 The miracle is not just about eyesight, it's about vision. 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:38.159 Because something fascinating happens as this story unfolds. 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:45.120 The man who was blind begins to see more and more clearly, not just physically, but spiritually. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:50.000 At first he says, the man called Jesus healed me. 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:53.120 Then later he calls him a prophet. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:56.479 And finally he says something extraordinary. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:59.039 He says, Lord, I believe. 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:03.919 His eyes are open not only to light but to faith. 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:12.080 At that same time, the people who supposedly see clearly, the Pharisees, become more and more blind. 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:19.759 They have eyes that function perfectly well, but they cannot see the truth standing right there in front of them. 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:24.479 This is the real drama of the gospel. 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:35.120 A blind man begins to see, and the people who think they can see reveal that they are actually blind. 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:40.080 And that's where the gospel becomes uncomfortable for us. 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:43.599 Because it forces us to ask a question. 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:46.879 What kind of sight do I have? 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:50.719 Well, there are two ways to see life. 00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:53.280 One is natural sight. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:04:04.639 Natural sight looks at the world the way everyone else does, sees all the success, the beauty, the status, the pleasure, the security. 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:08.479 It measures life by comfort and achievement. 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:18.240 But if that's the only way that you see the world, then life can become confusing and often frightening. 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:21.439 Because everything is fragile. 00:04:22.319 --> 00:04:24.879 Everything can be lost. 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:31.360 But the gospel speaks about something deeper, the vision of faith. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:36.480 Faith allows us to see the reality the way God sees it. 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:41.360 Faith allows us to see Christ at the very center of our lives. 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:49.040 Faith allows us to see suffering not as meaningless, but as something that can be united with the cross. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:58.399 Faith allows us to see other people not as obstacles or competitors, but as brothers and sisters created in the image of God. 00:04:59.839 --> 00:05:04.959 Faith allows us to see eternity as the true horizon of our lives. 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:08.480 Here's the difficult truth. 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:11.040 Faith is not automatic. 00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:14.720 You can have eyes and still be blind. 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:19.920 You can go to mass every Sunday or go to mass every day and still be blind. 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:27.360 You can know all the prayers, all the responses, know all the rituals, and still not be able to see. 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:31.759 The Pharisees knew Scripture better than anyone. 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:33.360 They were good people. 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:35.360 These were religious people. 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:40.480 They were disciplined, but their hearts were closed. 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:44.240 And that's what Jesus is saying to us. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:54.639 At the end of the gospel, he says, I came into this world so that those who did not see might see, and those who think they might see become blind. 00:05:55.279 --> 00:06:00.160 In other words, the greatest obstacle to faith is spiritual pride. 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:06.639 It's that quiet voice, that quiet belief that everything's fine. 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:07.439 I'm okay. 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:08.959 I don't need anything. 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:10.959 I don't need to change. 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:14.319 I don't really need to go through a conversion. 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:19.839 And Lent exists precisely to shatter that illusion. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:21.279 You do need change. 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:23.360 You do need conversion. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:25.360 But it's uncomfortable. 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:27.120 It's inconvenient. 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:31.920 Prayer begins to clear our vision. 00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:38.639 If you fast, fasting breaks our attachment to comfort. 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:43.120 If you give it almsgiving, it opens your heart to others. 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:46.000 Do you see how Lent can be transformative? 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:53.279 Little by little light begins to be to bring, be brought to the center. 00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:57.199 That's why today the church says, rejoice. 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:00.480 This is, after all, good news. 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:21.519 Because if you're here and you're listening to the word of God, maybe not daydreaming or thinking about what you have to do later on today, but if you're really truly listening to the word of God, then something in your heart is stirring even a little, then Christ is already working on your sight. 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:26.079 He's trying to lead you out of darkness into light. 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:30.399 But here's another question that remains for all of us. 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:33.040 Do we want to see? 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:37.120 Because a blind man had to do something. 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:39.199 He had to go and wash. 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:42.319 He had to respond to Christ's command. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:46.160 Again, we're not again we're being asked to move. 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:51.120 Grace always invites us, but it never forces us. 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:56.399 Some of us here today know exactly what Christ is asking of us. 00:07:56.639 --> 00:07:57.920 We know exactly. 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:19.279 We can see what Christ is asking of us to forgive someone that we haven't forgiven, to break that habit of sin that we keep falling into, to return to confession after many years, to make Sunday truly sacred, to reorder our lives so that Christ is at the very center and not just some accessory. 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:22.319 And yet we hesitate. 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:35.440 And so, my brothers and sisters, on this fourth Sunday of Lent, we're halfway through. 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:37.200 Don't waste it. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:40.080 If you've fallen off the track, get back on. 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:48.080 Let Christ touch your eyes, let him expose what needs to change, let him lead you into the light. 00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:52.240 Because the greatest tragedy in life is not physical blindness. 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:58.799 The greatest tragedy is to go through life with perfect eyesight and still not be able to see. 00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:09.600 But the greatest miracle is when a person encounters Christ and can finally say what this man said at the end of the gospel. 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:12.480 Lord, I believe. 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:13.440 Amen.