4th Sundayof Lent
1 Samuel 16:1-13
16The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” 2Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.” 4Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” 5He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
6When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.” 7But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 8Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 9Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 10Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” 11Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.” 12He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” 13Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.
Psalm 23
1The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;
3he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.
4Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me.
5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.
Ephesians 5:8-14
8For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— 9for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. 10Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. 11Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; 13but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
John 9:1-41
9As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, 7saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.
8The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” 12They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” 16Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. 17So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.” 18The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 24So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” 25He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.
35Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 37Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 38He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.
39Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” 40Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
(By Janice Kennedy -copyright)
Fr. Phil Medlin, CSsR. :
Homily 3 rd April 2011
The Gospel of John is different. The Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke are known as “the Synoptics” since they have so much in common. Unlike the Gospel of John they give their accounts of Jesus’ ministry as covering one year. John has the period of Jesus’ mission life lasting two years or more. The Synoptics have Jesus casting out the money changers from the temple towards the end of His ministry just before He is arrested to be crucified. John has that incident at the beginning of His ministry just after changing water into wine at a wedding.
The Greek word aposynagogos in the Gospel of John (9:22; 12:42; 16:2) means excommunication from the synagogue. It only occurs in the Gospel of John. It seems that the Community for which the Gospel of John was written had been excommunicated from the Jewish synagogues for proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah. Their world had changed. This Community had to cut themselves off completely from the people of Israel. This Gospel was written towards the end of the 1 st Christian Century. It is the last written of the canonical Gospels.
Today’s Gospel reading contrasts the physical blindness of a man with the spiritual blindness of the Jewish religious authorities. Jesus had become very down-to-earth. He had spat into some dirt and formed mud and rubbed this mixture over the eyes of a man born blind. A miracle was performed. The blind man could see for the first time in his life. But Jesus had performed this miracle on the Sabbath. According to the Pharisees, Jesus had broken God’s law. The Jewish authorities could not accept that Jesus was acting with the power of God.
The courage of the man born blind when faced with excommunication from the synagogue was meant to be an inspiration for the Community for whom this Gospel was written. The Johannine Community needed to have the same courage as this man who had been healed by Jesus. This community was facing an identity crisis. They needed to know that Jesus was still very much with them as they faced the new challenges around them. They needed to stand and declare that they were Easter People who proclaimed the Risen Christ to the world.
As Catholics, we too are facing an identity crisis. Catholics were once easy to identify within Australian society. Catholic ceremonies, like the Mass and Benediction, were in Latin. Before the sixties, Catholics never eat meat on any Friday under pain of sin. Catholics had to send their children to a Catholic school. (My mother had to take me from the State school and send me to a Catholic school. Otherwise, she could not receive Jesus in Communion.) Once, Catholics were not allowed to go into a non-Catholic church or attend non-Catholic services. Non-Catholic weddings, funerals, etc. were definitely forbidden. Yes, before the second Vatican Council, it was easy to tell the difference between Catholics and non-Catholics.
After the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) things changed. Gradually we were allowed to have the Scripture readings at Mass in English to be read by “lay people” (even women). (At my first home Mass after my ordination in 1964, I asked my Grandfather if they had the Mass readings were in English. He was shocked by my question. “We don’t have Protestant services here,” he said indignantly.) Now we usually have the entire Mass in English, including the words of consecration. Meat can be eaten by Catholics on most Fridays without pain of any sin. (Ash Wednesday and Fridays of Lent are now the days of abstinence from meat.) Far from not attending non-Catholic services, we are now encouraged to be ecumenical and reach out to all faiths, including Jewish people at synagogues and Moslems in mosques, as well as Protestants in their churches.
So, who are we as Catholics? What makes us any different from any other faith? What is our Catholic identity?
As Catholics, we need to recognise again and again that we are Easter People and we proclaim Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. That is what Lent is reminding us about. We need to be renewed as Catholics, so that at Easter we can be filled again with the Spirit of Christ.
We can be proud of our tradition as Catholics especially regarding Catholic Social Teaching. We try to follow the via media or middle path. We are against the atrocities of Communism as well as the abuses of Capitalism. In 1891, Pope Leo XIII led the world in trying to get a balance between Communism and Capitalism. He promoted the right of workers to unite against Capitalism by forming unions. As Catholics, we try to defend the rights of the poor, the outcasts of society. We seek the positive rather than the negative when it comes to judging people. We try to follow Christ fully in our decision making. Life-giving policies are far better than ways that promote sickness and death. As a Catholic Priest, I try to be inclusive rather than exclusive. I ask myself regularly during each confrontation, what would Christ do in my situation? Jesus was compassionate and very understanding. He gave His life to defend the rights of the marginalised, the poor and the oppressed. For me, that it is what it means to be a Catholic.
Fr Gerald Arbuckle has an inspirational quotation from Pope John Paul II:
“The secret of the Church’s educative power is not so much in doctrinal statements and pastoral approaches to vigilance, as in constantly looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. Each day the Church looks to Christ with unfailing love, fully aware that the true and final answer to the problem [of identity] lies in Him alone.” ( Crafting Catholic Identity in Postmodern Australia , p.1.)
May we look to Christ as the Inspiration for our Catholic identity this Lent.
philmedlin@acmcssr.org.au
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