Sunday the 15th of March 2026 - The Fourth Sunday of Lent

1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13/ Ps 23(22)/ Ephesians 5:8-14/ John 9:1-41

There is an old saying, ‘there are none so blind as those who will not see’. That saying could be the thread that runs through the readings of this Fourth Sunday of Lent. God said 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." In those few words, we are given one of the most important truths of our faith. God sees differently to the way we see. We are invited, in this season of Lent, to ask God to teach us to see the way He sees.

Think about how much of our daily life is shaped by appearances. The world around us is all about image. Celebrity culture, social media, the pressure to project a version of ourselves that is acceptable. We can spend enormous energy on how we appear to others, while the deeper question, the question of who we truly are before God, is neglected. Nothing is hidden from God's sight. Every thought, word, action, every silence when we should have spoken, every necessary action neglected, all of it is open to the light of God's vision. That can be humbling, even frightening, but it can also be deeply liberating.

The Gospel of John today gives us a dramatic and multi layered account of a miracle. A man born blind receives his sight. John does not simply tell us about a physical healing. He shows us something about spiritual vision, about the difference between those who truly see and those who are lost in darkness while believing they can see perfectly well. The blind man can be a pattern for our own faith journey. He begins in darkness, he encounters Jesus, he is sent to wash in the pool of Siloam, and he emerges with his sight. We can see this as an image of Baptism. Just as this man bathed in those waters and received his sight, so we were plunged into the waters of Baptism and received the spiritual vision that original sin had obscured. We emerged from those waters able to see Jesus for who he truly is, the Light of the World. Consider how the man's faith deepened throughout the story. At first, he simply referred to ‘the man called Jesus’, then he called him a prophet. Then, in the end, when Jesus had revealed himself, the man said he believed and worshiped Him. That is the journey of faith, it moves from a first encounter, through testing and challenge, to a full and worshipping recognition of Jesus our Saviour. It is the journey that we are all on.

It is the Pharisees who are truly blind in this passage. Their blindness was the most dangerous because they did not know they were blind. The evidence of the miracle was right in front of them. The man's neighbours confirmed it; his own parents confirmed it. The man himself testified to it with clarity and courage. But the Pharisees would not see it. They are so locked into the letter of the law, so focused on the fact that Jesus made a paste and healed on the Sabbath, that they could not, would not, see the glory of God shining right before their eyes. They ended up casting out the man who had been healed, and in doing so, they cast themselves further into darkness. As Saint Paul told the Ephesians, "At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light." The contrast Paul drew is not between people who are in a slightly better or worse situation, it is a contrast between darkness and light, between blindness and sight, between death and life.

We should not be too quick to congratulate ourselves that we are not like the Pharisees. Their spiritual blindness is alive in our world today, and if we are honest, it can be alive in us. There is still a powerful voice in our culture that ridicules faith as childlike, that dismisses God's revelation without offering any reasonable alternative, that is blind to the consequences of building a society without reference to God. We see around us a growing blindness to the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death, to the value of committed love and faithful marriage, to the dignity of the poor and displaced, to the lessons that history has tried so painfully to teach us about violence and war. We might also need to look closer to home. We can practice all the outward forms of our faith, attend Mass, pray, receive the sacraments, and still have blind spots. Blind spots in our relationships, our marriages, our parenting, how we treat those who are suffering both near and far. We can be blind to our own pride, our jealousy, our addictions, our indifference. We might choose to stay in the dark because the light would show us things about ourselves we would rather not see.

Lent is the time to bring those blind spots before the Lord and ask for healing. The healing the Lord offers is not a punishment. It is a gift. He wants to open our eyes, restore our sight. He wants to draw us out of whatever darkness we have settled into and bring us into his wonderful light. Let us pray today the prayer attributed to Saint Richard of Chichester and made famous in the musical Godspell, ‘Oh Dear Lord Three things I pray. To see thee more clearly. Love thee more dearly. Follow thee more nearly, Day by day.

God Bless Brendan