4th SUNDAY OF LENT (A)

"He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.”

Jn 9:1-41

SIN

As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned.

1. Every sin will be punished, if not in this world, then in the next.

2. But not every sickness or bad luck is punishment due to sin.

3. Why do bad things happen to good people? Because we live in an imperfect world where things go wrong.

4. Mortal sin merits an eternal and a temporal punishment. The eternal punishment is taken away in confession, but not the temporal punishment. In this world, we can take away temporal punishment through indulgence, sacrifice and good works. In the next world, we have to go through purgatory.

5. Sin does have consequences that flow from it. If I steal, I can go to prison. If I drink too much, I can damage my liver. If I am a liar, I will loose people’s trust.

BLINDNESS

When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva,
and smeared the clay on his eyes, and said to him, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” —which means Sent—. So he went and washed, and came back able to see.

The Blind Man and the Pharisees.

The man was physically blind. Jesus did not only give him physical sight. Je-sus also gave him the eyes of faith so that he was able to see that Jesus was the son of man which also means the Messiah.

The Pharisees could see. But they were spiritually blind. They could not accept Jesus was the Messiah. Why? They had no faith. They were also biased against Jesus. What was their bias? Anyone who does not believe in the strict observance of the Sabbath is not from God. Jesus does not believe in the strict ob-servance of the Sabbath. Therefore, he can not be from God.

All of us have our biases. Examples: If you are poor, it is because you are lazy. If you are rich, it is because you are corrupt. Unless we are aware of our biases, we will be blind to who the other person really is.

Ignorance makes us blind.

Our defects are like a knapsack (zaino). Every body knows about our defects except us. We need fraternal correction to know them.

We needed to tell Europeans living in the Philippines to take a bath regularly and to use deodorant, at least in those days. They were not aware that the climate in the Philippines is different from Europe and therefore, the effect on the body is different.

Many years ago I used to say Sunday Mass somewhere in Paco. I would take a taxi. I used to sit in front and chat with the driver. One night the driver talked about his family. He said he had two children. And I asked kung meron pang susunod. He knew I was a priest. He responded by saying, “Father, hindi na pwede. Nagpatali na si Mrs.” Obviously, he did not know that tubal ligation is moral wrong.

Habit makes us blind.

When something becomes a habit, we are not aware of them anymore. We do them without thinking. What is worse is that they do not bother us anymore. Why? Nasanay na tayo.
I am bothered when I hear someone say: “P****g Ina mo!” For others, bukang-bibig na nila yon.

When we do not listen, we become blind to the point of view of the other person. And because of that we fail to understand.

When we are arguing, what do we usually do? We do not listen to what each other is saying. What we do is we prepare our response. Inihahanda natin ang ating bala. There is a technique that helps resolve arguments. And it is this. First, I will tell the other person what I understood. When that person says that my understanding is correct, only then will I say my response.

Is blindness always bad?

They say that before you get married to someone, you must have both your eyes wide open. After marriage you must close your eyes. It means that you must get to know who you want to marry. That includes his defects. Can you live with his defects? If so, when you marry him, you must now be blind to those defects.

I have met children who complain that their parents only see are their short-comings. Two things are in order here. First, parents must learn to be blind to small things. Let insignificant things pass. Second, learn to praise more and criticize less. Praise gets better results than blame.

CONCLUSION

The JO-HARI window is a diagram that represents the extent of our self-knowledge. It divided into four parts. One part represents things about ourselves that we know but others do not. The second part represents things about ourselves that we do not know but other do know. The third part represents things about ourselves that we and others do not know. And the fourth part represents things about ourselves that we and others know about. What we need to do is to increase the area of self-knowledge and in so doing decrease the area of ignorance about oneself. There is one practice that will decrease ignorance about oneself and in-crease self-knowledge. That practice is the daily examination of conscience. Examination of conscience means taking time in the evening to stop and find out how we have been faithful to God and how we have been unfaithful to him during the day. Becoming aware of how we have been unfaithful to God is the first step in fulfilling the invitation of Ash Wednesday: “Turn away from your sins and believe in the Gospel!”

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The Salesians of Don Bosco is a religious congregation of priests and brothers dedicated to the welfare of the young. If you feel called by God to give your life for the good of the young, you may want help in discovering if this is really God's will for you. Please get in touch with the Vocation Director (Don Bosco North Province, Philippines) - 0917-7930112 - finvoc@yahoo.com - Bro. MON CALLO SDB.