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Samiyo/ The Blind Man Sunday
Opening Prayer:
By your help, we beseech you, Lord our God,
The Readings: (alternate) In His Steps - A Lenten Series
Today:
Daily Meditation:
Inspired by his love, guided by his example,
Today we beg for the graces we need and desire this week.
Today's Daily Reflection
by Larry Gillick, S.J.
PRE-PRAYERING
Next Sunday is Palm Sunday known as well as Passion Sunday. There are some
annunciations for us to prepare to hear and a wonderful incarnation of God's
love in this liturgy's readings. We prepare for this Lenten celebration by
praying with our fractions. I heard a poem recently which stated that God made
whole numbers and humans made and love fractions. These breakings seem to give
us a sense of depth and control of the small things.
Our fractions or breakings or break-ups can be painful and a sense of our losing
control of even the small things. We pray for God to put our pieces back
together in the celebration of the Eucharist in which there is a "Fraction Rite"
and a distributing of the broken, yet holy. We pray for the grace of simplicity
which allows us to bring our whole, yet broken selves to be blest and put
together for holy distribution.
REFLECTION
Our First Reading from the prophet Isaiah opens with one long sentence of
historical intent. The "First Exodus" is being recalled to the minds of the
people of Israel now in captivity in Babylon. The Word of the Lord is speaking
of the events of the past, but in the present tense. God is bringing to their
minds the truth that in their minds that the events of their past are present in
the eyes of God. They are in exile from their homeland and the "Second Exodus"
will be even greater as an identifying claim that the nation is even more God's
Chosen.
In the rest of the prophesy from Isaiah, God is saying, in a sense, "That first
display of my power was nothing. You ain't seen nothing yet!" In the First
Exodus the waters were split so that a safe passage would be allowed. Now the
opposite will take place. Where there is no water in the desert, there will be
rivers and a way back home. As in the "First Exodus" the object of freedom is so
that they might understand God's being their God and their response is to
announce God's praise and serve that same loving God.
It is not to be forgotten by the Jews; it is a part of their saving history.
This "second" is not a replacement, but an intensification of that saving love.
The wild beasts will praise the creating God for their new life in the desert of
fertility. The people of God are called to that same sense of grateful relating
to their God of creation and salvation.
The Gospel story is a "something-new" event as well. John presents Jesus as
being in the temple area and the crowds come to hear His teachings. John's whole
Gospel is a presenting of Jesus as a replacement of the temple which the Romans
destroyed long after the death and resurrection of Jesus. So the setting of this
story is significant and so is His teaching through this saving event.
The "old" that is, the Pharisees and scribes are attracted to Jesus, but in a
negative way. They bring to Jesus a woman caught in adultery. It is a court
scene and Jesus, not the woman, is on trial. The issue here is whether Jesus is
of the "old" or of something "new". The Law of Moses is the evidence and what
new evidence which Jesus will provide, creates the tension. If Jesus condemns
her then He is of the "old" and they win and remain the religious center for the
people. If Jesus violates the Law and does something new and different, then
Jesus is not only opposed to the Law, but to their being at the center.
It is significant as well for John's theology that Jesus arrives early in the
morning, at daybreak. The verses which follow this story begin with Jesus
declaring that He is the "Light of the world". This whole chapter is a
discussion with the Jewish leaders about just who Jesus is. As "Light" Jesus
desires to illumine their minds and hearts. This discussion continues into the
next Chapter where the "Man Born Blind" is healed and they, the Jewish leaders,
are pictured as being blinded by what they fail to see.
The woman of today's Gospel is a set-up person. The Pharisees use her for their
purposes as did the man who used her sexually. Jesus meets her as well as a
revelation of His "new" revelational way. He frees her from the captivity of the
crowd, the Pharisees and the Law. The tension of the courtroom is resolved by
Jesus' inviting her fellow-sinners to keep the Law by stoning her if they are
without sin. Nobody is left to throw stones cleanly. Jesus missions her to live
as loved, not used any more.
Here is what is new. Jesus is not being judicial as are the Pharisees whose
interests are self-justifying performances of the Law. Jesus sends the woman
back into a sense of relating as one member of the whole community. Lent, is
never meant for us, to be a self-purifying season so that I merely remain more
an I, self-purified and self-satisfied with my penances, mortifications,
religious strictness. Lent ends with community. Lent ends with Jesus rising and
gathering together those who have been untombed. Lent ends with us renewing our
baptismal entrances into community. Lent ends, as with the Jews of the "Second
Exodus" back in our homeland together, where we belong.
"The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy." Ps. 126
may we walk eagerly in that same charity
with which, out of love for the world,
your Son handed himself over to death.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51; Hebrews 5:7-9; John 12:20-33
change our selfishness into self-giving.
Today we celebrate the Third Scrutiny,
as we journey to the font with those preparing for Baptism.
We are in our last week before Holy Week.
It seems that there is so much left to do, to ask for, to be open to, to
surrender, to change.
Jesus assures us that he is the "resurrection and the life,"
that if we place our faith in him, we will "never die."
"I am troubled now. Yet what should I say?
'Father, save me from this hour'?
But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.
Father, glorify your name."
We ask for courage in the journey ahead.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality, Creighton University
Preface for Meditation:
"They will look on the one they have pierced." Not just those gathered around
this wooden cross erected on the darkening hill of Golgotha--haven't we all
looked upon him? For close to two thousand years humanity has looked back on
this seminal, defining moment. It has looked back on the one they have pierced.
Yes, all of us have pierced him, for all of us have sinned. As Paul so aptly
will remind us in Romans 3:23, it is sin that has placed him there, nailed him
to that barren tree, and we are all sinners, each and every one of us.
Crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the nexus point, the pivotal moment in all of
human history. Everything that came before led up to this moment and everything
that has happened afterward is the outworking of it, looking back to it. As
Peter told the assembled elders in Jerusalem, which is recorded in Acts 4:11-12,
"He is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone. Salvation
is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by
which we must be saved."
From the first promise to Eve as mankind was banished from the Garden of Eden
that her seed would crush the head of Satan, to the Jews standing that very day
throughout the Roman Empire, all of whom awaited the coming Messiah represented
in the fifth Passover cup, the Cup of Elijah; everything in the life of the
people of God since their creation has pointed to this moment. From David
blessing Jerusalem as the city of God, to Nehemiah saving it for the future
Messiah to walk in, to the revolt of the Macabees preserving the temple and
priesthood from the Abomination of Desolation, so that the High Priest might
this very morning pronounce that "it is better for you that one man die for the
people than that the whole nation perish"; everything has pointed to this one
decisive moment.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the physical wilderness of Sinai to heal the
stricken nation of Israel, so now Jesus is lifted up in the spiritual wilderness
of Golgotha to heal the whole stricken human race. Salvation is found in no one
else, no one who came before, and no one who will come after. There is no other
name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. There is only one
way, one truth, and one life. It is in the singular name of the one that the
Romans have just pierced. It is in the name of the one whose hands and feet are
at this moment nailed to the rough wood standing before us. It is in Jesus the
Christ whom we look upon for our hope of redemption.
Evening
Morning
Before Holy Qurbana
Holy Qurbana
Gospel Readings: Mark 10:46-52 (KJV)
And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples
and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by
the highway side begging.
And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and
say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.
And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a
great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me.
And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the
blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.
And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto
thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.
And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And
immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.
And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and
saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us.
And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus
saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him,
Yea, Lord.
Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.
And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See
that no man know it.
But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that
country.
And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his
parents, that he was born blind?
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the
works of God should be made manifest in him.
I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night
cometh, when no man can work.
As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the
spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by
interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came
seeing.
The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was
blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged?
Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.
Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?
He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed
mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went
and washed, and I received sight.
Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.
They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.
And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.
Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He
said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.
Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he
keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do
such miracles? And there was a division among them.
They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath
opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.
But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and
received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received
his sight.
And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind?
how then doth he now see?
His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that
he was born blind:
But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we
know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.
These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews
had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he
should be put out of the synagogue.
Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.
Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God
the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.
He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I
know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.
Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes?
He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore
would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?
Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses'
disciples.
We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from
whence he is.
The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that
ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.
Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of
God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one
that was born blind.
If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.
They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost
thou teach us? And they cast him out.
Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said
unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?
And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh
with thee.
And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.
And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see
not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said
unto him, Are we blind also?
Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye
say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
Bible Verse of the Day:
"Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
Intercessions
Let us praise our loving Redeemer, who gained for us this season of grace,
Christ, our life, through baptism we were buried with you and rose to life with
you,
Closing Prayer:
Father,
May the Lord bless us,
Source: Portions from: Creighton University Praying Lent
by Prince Mathew
Sixth Sunday of Great Lent
Matthew 9:27-31 (KJV)
John 9:1-41 (KJV)
- St. Mark 10:52
and pray to him, saying:
Lord, create a new spirit in us.
- may we walk today in newness of life.
Lord, you have brought blessings to all mankind,
- bring us to share your concern for the good of all.
May we work together to build up the earthly city,
- with our eyes fixed on the city that lasts for ever.
Healer of body and soul, cure the sickness of our spirit,
- so that we may grow in holiness through your constant care.
it's so hard to love the world sometimes
and to love it the way Jesus did seems impossible.
Help me to be inspired by his love and
guided by his example.
Most of all, I want to accept that I can't do it alone,
and that trying is an arrogance of self-centeredness.
I need you, dear God, to give me support in this journey.
Show me how to unlock my heart
so that I am less selfish.
Let me be less fearful of the pain and darkness
that will be transformed by you into Easter joy.
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
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