The Lord is my shepherd;
there is nothing I shall want. He leads me in paths of righteousness. I have no
fear of evil, darkness and death. This psalm 23 is the responsorial for this
fourth Sunday of Lent. Each word of this psalm sounds relevant and becomes
meaningful for the reader especially in this time of coronavirus pandemic. These
days all our prayers are; we have no one but, thee O Lord! It is only you who
can be our doctor, nurse and shepherd as we fight against this disastrous virus.
Will our prayers be answered? How can we believe in his intervention as no. of
cases are increasing day by day? Where can we find His response to our prayers
amidst the massive death rate around the world every day? All these questions will
be answered when we have a different outlook towards the present reality. In the
first reading of today, Samuel looks on Eli'ab, the first son of Jesse and considers
him as the one to whom the Lord had sent him to anoint as a king. But the Lord
says to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature,
because I have rejected him; for the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on
the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Sam 16:6&7). This
is the message that the Lord has for us today as we approach the present
tragedy with human outlook. We need to put on the divine mask/specs to have a
divine outlook. We need to look inside of us to look out.
In today’s gospel, taken
from John 9:1-41 Jesus gives sight to a man born blind. He is applying the clay
of his spittle on man’s eyes and sends him to wash his eyes in the pool of Siloam. By doing so he gets sight. The man who had never seen the light is able
to see now. On the contrary, the people who were seeing the light day by day are
becoming blind. The Pharisees are trying to plot against Jesus for His act of
healing on the day of Sabbath. Albeit some Pharisees opine that only a person
from God can do such a miraculous work, which brings division among themselves (Jn
9:16) still may hold on to find fault in Jesus’ act. Here, the Pharisees, who supposed
to have a divine outlook towards every reality and affirm God’s intervention in
every good act, become an agent of evil by blaspheming and conspiring against
Jesus. More than the act of healing they look at persons: Jesus, the carpenter’s
son and blind man, the sinner. All their queries are; how can a carpenter’s son
heal a sinner? They look at every person as sinners and consider that God would
not deal with them directly. But it is their outlook. It is their
understanding, which is merely human and erroneous. Through this event they could
not see that God is present among them and kingdom of God is nearing. They have
become blind. Let us not imitate them as we panic over coronavirus pandemic. Amidst
this struggle against life, the real human life is discovered. The busy people
have become calm. Parents started to play with their children. The houses have
become places of prayer and worship. The meals are shared with love in a
family. The human solidarity, simplicity, sharing and generosity in helping others
come out from the true heart of men. Thus, there is life and light. We only need
a divine sight to see the life and comprehend the reality.
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