The Gospel this Sunday makes sense in the context of a journey. The grace of the miracle is basically the gift of faith. The man had lived in darkness his entire life and the consequence of an encounter with Jesus resulted not only in the restoration of his physical sight but more significantly it unfolded his spiritual sight through the gift of faith.Through a series of interrogation, the man grew in his acknowledgement of Jesus, first as simply the man called Jesus, then, a prophet, later, as a man from God and finally, as the Lord. In his final acknowledgement, he worshipped Christ as Lord and God.
What can we learn from the experience of the man born blind?
First and importantly, the blind man’s encounter mirrors the journey of those who belong to the catechumenate. The catechumenate describes this special group of people who are preparing for their baptism. The blind man confesses ignorance before the people, before the Pharisees and before Christ Himself. Notice that the blind man confesses his ignorance and each confession is followed by a “profession” or acknowledgement of faith. Hopefully, one should be able to trace the outline of this miracle in the life of each catechumen as the miracle highlights the progression from ignorance to faith. If the movement from blindness to sight traces the journey from ignorance to faith, then for every catechumen, baptism becomes the logical conclusion of one who has come to know and want to worship Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Second, who says that the Matrix is a new movie? There seems to be a parallel universe here because running in tandem with this gradual enlightening of the blind man, we observe a sweeping shadow shrouding the minds of the Pharisees as they grew profoundly blind.
How do we explain this profound blindness? Why is it that the same encounter can produce such differing responses?
In the case of the blind man, there was a humble acceptance of his ignorance. That humility opened the heart for the gift of faith to enter. In the case of the Pharisees, how else can we describe their gradual blindness except to explain it as a hardness of heart?
How can we understand this hardness of heart? On the one hand, to have eyes and yet fail to see is akin to what in moral theology is known as invincible [not invisible] ignorance. This is a form of ignorance that may exempt/excuse a person from moral consequence/culpability/responsibility due to its involuntary and irretrievable nature. In other words, it is ignorance beyond one’s control and therefore one cannot be held accountable. To give an example of invincible ignorance, we have a tribe in Papua New Guinea where the grass is taller than the average tribesman. They have never heard of Christ and no one has brought the Good News to them—they are an example of invincible ignorance because they cannot be faulted for not knowing that Christ is the Saviour of the world. Few people fall into this category.
On the other hand, to have eyes and refuse to see—that is what we might call “vincible” ignorance and the consequence is dire. Many would belong to this category. Even the man born blind, but in his case there was a difference. His acceptance of his ignorance and his desire to know led to his enlightenment. In the case of the Pharisees, they were adamant that they could see. They were blind to their ignorance; that explains Jesus saying at the end of the gospel: “Blind? If you were, you would not be guilty, but since you say, “We see”, your guilt remains”.
To have eyes and yet refuse to see is a form of obstinacy. Why is that so? First, people are blind or obstinate because they do not sufficiently recognise the reality of sin. This is crucial. You would be amazed because people have come to the Sacrament of Confession confessing not their sins but how good they are. Some have the mistaken but deadly notion that since they are merely committing venial sins, they are nothing. Second, it is easy to think of "vincible" ignorance as a refusal as if it were deliberate; as if people purposely want to be ignorant. What "vincible" or culpable ignorance may reveal is that we do not sufficiently acknowledge that sin blinds us, even venial ones. [1] Without this realisation, the result can only be that we remain at best lackadaisical or at worst indifferent. And so, if we accept faith to be a gift, and for it to grow, we need to jump into the waters of conversion. Faith flourishes only through continual conversion.
Many of us might not know that there is a prayer for Exorcism for this Second Scrutiny. The word is sadly made graphic in connotation as if it were defined by Linda Blair turning her head 360 degrees. Our imagination is aided by Paranormal Activities I and II. But, exorcism has nothing to do with the gruesome nor the ghoulish. Instead, the prayer emphasises freedom from the falsehood of sin and it asks God to free all who struggle under the yoke of the father of lies. In the language of the 2nd Reading, “try to discover what the Lord wants of you, having nothing to do with the futile works of darkness but exposing them by contrast”. Conversion requires that we constantly bring our lives into light.
Finally, today is Laetare Sunday and we rejoice because our salvation is near. The intent of “rejoicing” is to give us a glimpse of the future. Yet, the “break”, the so-called “jubilee year” actually highlights the seriousness of our Lenten practice of praying, fasting and almsgiving. We need a break only because what we have been doing is critical to our conversion. Otherwise Laetare is empty rejoicing. Lent in its spirit is one of withdrawal because deprived of creaturely comforts and food we begin to purify ourselves so that free from inordinate attachments, we may see better.
Many of us are ashamed of and by our sins unless we are Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan. But, the more ashamed we are and the more we try to hide them, the more difficult will our conversion be. The gift of faith, without conversion, may also lead to blindness—just like the case of the Pharisees. Faith, for it to grow and not turn to blindness, it means that the conversion must never stop. It involves a lifetime.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] I was at Sunday School and I asked the children when they last went for Confession. Most, 99% said that their first was their last Confession. I gave an example of me going to hell. I asked this question: “If I were going to hell, what would happen if I killed a person”? “Nothing… I could kill and kill because I was already on the way to hell and it did not matter if I killed one more”. But, as it were, hopefully we are all aiming for heaven and so, venial sins mean something.
