March 30, 2025

4^th Sunday of Lent [A: Scrutinies]

To See or Not to See

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

 
Today we welcome the Elect for the second of three Scrutinies as they make their way to the Easter Sacraments. The readings we follow are those of the “A cycle” which over three weeks focus on water, light, and life, which are so allied to the Sacraments of Initiation. Last week, the Gospel’s focus was water, next week the focus will be life. 
 
Today the focus is light which is found in Our Lord’s cure of a man who was born blind. This miracle of Jesus stirred up quite a controversy. The Pharisees took offense since it occurred on the Sabbath. Then, if we were to read the longer form of the Gospel, they began a theological dispute about the origin of the man’s blindness. The Pharisees asserted that the man’s life-long blindness was due to the sin of his parents. “You were born totally in sin, and you are trying to teach us!?” Resentful, they threw him out!” 
 
Our Lord brushes aside all objections and heals the man. The life-long darkness in which he was enveloped was dispelled by an infusion of light that transformed his life.
 
The Church sees this as an allusion of what happens to us in baptism. In the early Church, Baptism was often referred to as “Illumination.” “To be converted to Christ and washed free of sin was to pass from darkness to light, from confusion to truth, from distorted vision to clear vision—and ultimately death to life.” [G. WeigelRoman Pilgrimage] Like the man who was cured, in baptism our blind eyes are opened to see and worship Christ, the light of the world.
 
What a paradox! The blind man sees and rejoices, and those who think they see are the ones who are really blind, remaining in their obstinacy. The cured man is filled with amazement, the Pharisees with resentment.
 
I think it is safe to say, we all suffer with “blind spots:”

• How often we clearly see and point out the weaknesses and sins of others but are blind to our own.
   
• We so often focus on our burdens and are blind to the blessings we receive.
   
•  We can be so determined to satisfy our own wants and desires, we become blind to the needs and sufferings of others.
   
• We can so stubbornly cling to our own opinions that we can be blind to the views of others.
   
• We can be so comfortable in how we are living that we can be blind to what the Gospel demands
   
•  We can become so slothful in our spiritual life that we can become blind to the riches that can be ours through prayer and the sacraments.
   

Our challenge is that in ways great and small, we turn to the light who is Christ and not away from it. This is our hope as baptized, and our hope and prayer for our Elect who are drawing ever closer to the bright light of Baptism.

This could be our prayer today:  

Lord God, You are never overcome by darkness. Even the darkest night is as bright as the brightest day to You. Let me journey with You, learning to walk in Your ways, seeking Your divine presence in my life every moment. With you, any darkness I am in will dissipate, and the night around me will be like day once again.
 
Strengthen me and deliver me from the problems and anxieties that overwhelm and frighten me. Open my mind and heart to receive your word. Help me to see what I must change. Give me the resolve to come down from my pedestal and place me on the road of humility. Help me to move from darkness into Your radiant light. Amen.

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4^th Sunday of Lent (C) 

A Family Drama and a Father’s Mercy

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio 

 
We have just heard what has been called the “pearl and crown of all the parables of Scripture.” Its three characters have much to teach us. So, let’s consider them. 
 
The young, rebellious son is called “prodigal” from the Latin “prodigus” meaning lavish or extravagant. He thought remaining home would impede the realization of his ideas and ambition. He wanted his freedom! It’s been said, “Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life.” Ungrateful and self-absorbed he takes the money and runs. 
 
At first, life was great but his lavish lifestyle was short-lived. Eventually he lost money and friends. His problems were compounded when a famine broke out. He managed to find a job—the worst a Jew could ever have—feeding swine! No one would help him. He hit rock bottom!
 
Finally, coming to his senses he decides to return home. After all, even his father’s workers were better off! So, summoning up his courage, he prepares what he will say to his father and sets out bracing for the worst!
 
The spotlight then turns to the father. He never forgot his son. His love was unchanged. He had allowed his son the freedom to go his way, even knowing the pain his son would face and the hurt he himself would endure. 
 
Seeing his son from a distance, he did not wait to have him crawl back in humiliation. Rather, he runs out to meet him. He embraces and kisses him. He does not scold his son nor does he allow him to finish his well-rehearsed act of contrition. He joyfully restores his son’s dignity and his place in the family. Not only that—he orders are great celebration to be held.
 
The story might have ended there, but Jesus expands the scene to consider the elder son. From all appearances he was the good son—faithful, obedient, devoted, a diligent worker. People would have admired him. “Thank God, the old man has this son, not like the other one!” 
 
But taking a closer look, we discover that while outwardly we see virtues, inwardly we find festering a deep bitterness not only toward his brother but his father as well. His father is weak and unjust, his brother—a reckless no-good who deserves not a feast but a punishment! Feeling rejected, neglected, and unappreciated, the elder son reveals his deeply hidden resentment, pride, cruelty, and selfishness.
 
The elder son failed to grasp the infinite goodness and mercy of his father. His father, ever compassionate reaches out to him and pleads with him to join the feast. He does not negate his son’s fidelity. The welcome home celebration did not mean he was less loved or not appreciated. In reality the elder son was also lost. He was a foreigner in his own home who chose complaining over gratitude, anger over joy, condemnation over forgiveness. 
 
Today has a Latin title: “Laetare” Sunday, which is to say, “Rejoice Sunday.” Today’s parable would have us rejoice in the mercy of a heavenly Father who never tires of forgiving us and rejoices when we turn to him. We are not foreigners in his House, but his beloved sons and daughters. of God. Lent can be a time of joy if we allow ourselves to experience the mercy of the Lord through the Sacrament of Penance where our dignity and our place in the family is restored. I think the father in the parable always left his door open for the son’s return…So is the door of the confessional!