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A Spring Clean of our Soul
Some years ago, we made a change in the basic direction of our Pastoral Council. In the past representatives of various groups within the parish would attend the meeting and give reports about their activities. It was informative but rather repetitive and unfruitful. Now the Council members meet to discern what the parish needs and wants, to share their visions and dreams for the parish, and, of course, to plan various activities to implement the vision.
Fr. Frank DeSiano’s Cultivating Catholic Discipleship project has vision sharing sessions, which we
try to implement. There is no doubt about the positive energy and collaborative spirit of the reconstituted Council. We would love to see our parishioners actively involved in the affairs of the parish so that we can be all that we are called to be by the Lord.
Vision is critical in our perception and action. An accurate vision of reality is required for our proper perception, followed by appropriate actions. This is true in our journey to God as well. Today’s gospel story is particularly significant in that regard.
The stark contrast between a man blind from birth and a group of religion teachers, namely, Pharisees, is instructive. The one whose sight is restored now speaks plainly, simply describing what he sees. The experts of the Law bring a lot of baggage. Their half-cooked knowledge and presumption becomes an impediment to their proper perception of reality. When one deals with something of God, one may want to be deferential and not so judgmental. Just listen to what these people have to say about Jesus: “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath.” They also have a complete presumption of the condition of the man born blind, which prompts them to say: “You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?”
Those who presume their ability to see are in fact blind and deny the reality. We hope we do not persist in this type of psychology of denial. Jesus towards the end of today’s story says: “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.”
I am often wary of those people who say God made them do this or that. There are people leaning towards religious triumphalism, openly talking about God and asking God’s favor in political gatherings. On the opposite side of the spectrum, there is the tyranny of secular humanism, self-serving moral relativism, disguised atheism, or trivializing indifferentism regarding faith, excluding God in public arena altogether.
Every assertion cannot be equally right. Majority popular opinions do not change wrong into right. God’s way is different from ours. A Catholic thinker observes that moral relativism is public enemy number one, because it leads to the destruction of a civilization.
Presumption is always risky. Jesus says to the Pharisees: “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.”
Saint Theophilus of Antioch gives us an apt advice: “A person’s soul should be clean, like a mirror reflecting light. If there is rust on the mirror his face cannot be seen in it. In the same way, no one who has sin within him can see God.”
It’s time to clean our mirror. We continue our Lenten journey along with our catechumens so that our minds and hearts are in tune with Christ. So we ask ourselves: “Oh, say can you see?”
Fr. Paul D. Lee