It is Laetare Sunday today, when we pause to reflect on the foretaste of the joy of Easter. The joy of staying in the light of God.
In the first reading, David was anointed the king of Israel by Samuel. At that time, God reminded Samuel that He knows the stuff each man is made of and does not judge by physical appearance. In the second reading, St Paul urges us to live as Children of Light and expose the shameful and fruitless works of darkness.
In the gospel, Jesus healed the man born blind; for the first time in his life, he could perceive the Light and had the privilege of sight.
We see here the compassion of Jesus and the concerns of His disciples about that man. We see also the faith of the blind man clearly at play here. He trusted in the words of Jesus without seeing or knowing who Jesus was, and he was healed afterward.
There is a blindness of utmost concern. It is spiritual blindness that occurs when one closes the blinds and shuts the windows of the soul to keep out Jesus, the Light of the world (Jn8:12). We were all born blind and in spiritual darkness until our baptism, when we received a new life, light and vision. In the same way, we should bring the Light, and be the beacon of Light to those in darkness, showing them how to live by our good examples.
I encourage you with the words of St Paul in the 2nd reading. “You were darkness once, but now you are light in the Lord; be like children of light…. Try to discover what the Lord wants of you”. I pray that the Lord, our shepherd, may lead us to this better insight, vision and understanding that our joy of salvation may be complete.