First Reading (1 Samuel 16: 1, 6-7, 10-13)
The LORD said to Samuel: “Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have chosen my king from among his sons.” As Jesse and his sons came to the sacrifice, Samuel looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is here before him.” But the LORD said to Samuel: “Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.” In the same way Jesse presented seven sons before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen any one of these.” Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” Jesse replied, “There is still the youngest, who is tending the sheep.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send for him; we will not begin the sacrificial banquet until he arrives here.” Jesse sent and had the young man brought to them. He was ruddy, a youth handsome to behold and making a splendid appearance. The LORD said, “There—anoint him, for this is the one!” Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand, anointed David in the presence of his brothers; and from that day on, the spirit of the LORD rushed upon David.
Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 23: 1-6)
Refrain: The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.
1) The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
Beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul.
2) He guides me in right paths for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff that give me courage.
3) You spread the table before me in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
4) Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come.
Second Reading (Ephesians 5: 8-14)
Brothers and sisters: You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them, for it is shameful even to mention the things done by them in secret; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says: “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, and said to him, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” - which means Sent -. So he went and washed, and came back able to see. His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is, ” but others said, “No, he just looks like him.” He said, “I am.” So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?” He replied, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see.” And they said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.” They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees. Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath. So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.” So some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a sinful man do such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said to the blind man again, “What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” Now the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and gained his sight until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight. They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How does he now see?” His parents answered and said, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. We do not know how he sees now, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is of age; he can speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; question him.” So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner.” He replied, “If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.” So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” They ridiculed him and said, “You are that man’s disciple; we are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from.” The man answered and said to them, “This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.” They answered and said to him, “You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?” Then they threw him out. When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered and said, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “I do believe, Lord, ” and he worshiped him. Then Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.” Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see, ‘so your sin remains.
(Copyright 1970, 1986, 1992, 1998, 2001 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. Washington D.C. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Copyright 1970, 1997, 1998 Contraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. Washington, D.C. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
The English translation of some Psalm responses, some Alleluia and Gospel verses and the Lenten Gospel Acclamations, some Summaries, and the Titles and Conclusion of the Readings, from the Lectionary for Mass copyright 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc., Washington D.C. All rights reserved.
The poetic English translation of the sequences of the Roman Missal are taken from the Roman Missal approved by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States, copyright 1964 by the National Catholic Welfare Conference, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission of ICEL.)
- A man was flying from San Francisco to Los Angeles and told the following true story. "By the time we took off, there had been a 45-minute delay and everybody on board was really annoyed. Unexpectedly, we stopped in Sacramento on the way. The flight attendant explained that there would be another 45-minute delay, and that if we wanted to get off the aircraft, we would reboard in 30 minutes. Everybody got off the plane except one gentleman who was blind. I noticed him as I walked by and could tell he had flown before because his Seeing Eye dog lay quietly underneath the seats in front of him throughout the entire flight. I could also tell he had flown this very flight before because the pilot approached him and, calling him by name, said, "Keith, we're in Sacramento for almost an hour. Would you like to get off and stretch your legs?" Keith replied, "No thanks, but maybe my dog would like to stretch his legs." Picture this...all the people in the gate area came to a completely quiet standstill when they looked up and saw the pilot walking off the plane with a Seeing Eye dog! The pilot was even wearing sunglasses! People scattered. They not only tried to change planes, they also were trying to change airlines! (1)
Blindness is not something that is usually a laughing matter. My first spiritual advisor was a nun who had been blind since she was in her early twenties. Over the course of our conversations, she shared with me how angry she initially was at the loss of her sight. But over the course of time, she came to accept her disability and use it for her own spiritual advantage and that of those of us who came to her for guidance.
If we look at today's scripture passages, we will see that there are three common threads between today's first reading and the gospel. The first theme is anointing. Now anointings are usually done for one of two purposes: as a sign of healing or as a sign of being chosen by God, and each of these are demonstrated in today's readings. When David finally comes in from tending the sheep, Samuel anoints him with oil as God's chosen one. In the gospel, we heard how our Lord "anointed" the man born blind with mud made from his own saliva. Now we must realize that in our Lord's time, saliva did not have the unhygienic connotations which it has today. In fact, it was believed to possess certain curative powers, as evidenced by the writings of several prominent Latin scholars. So in using a paste of dirt and saliva, Jesus was only using the methods and customs of the time to effect his cure, since oil was not readily available to him. It is almost like in our own day when doctors give some patients in a test group a placebo to see how they react when compared to another group who actually receive a new medicine. Thus, oil, or even mud, can bring about a cure when all else has failed.
Secondly, the Lord tells Samuel that "Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart". Thus it was that God had not chosen any of the oldest seven of Jesse's sons to be king, but the youngest and the one least expected to be selected, David. Last week, we heard about a Samaritan woman with a checkered past whom our Lord chose to be the first one to whom he revealed that he was the Messiah. And in today's gospel, our Lord heals the blind man without even being asked to do so (as opposed to, for instance, Bartimaeus who pleaded to be healed of his blindness). Thus, our Lord chooses a blind man to be the one who would confront the Pharisees with the truth about who Christ really was. And, of course, the Pharisees don't believe him because they are seeing and judging by appearances, that he was a blind, uneducated man who couldn't possibly know who Jesus was. So here we have two people who would be least expected to do wondrous things in their lives.
As I was reflecting on this week's readings, I thought of another man who also did not expect to affect the world in a special way.
- He was born on July 24, 1725 and was an only child. His mother taught him how to read before the age of three and also instructed him in portions of Scripture, catechisms, hymns and religious poems. Later he realized that the things that he was taught as a child had helped keep him from going even deeper into sin than he did. She died just before he turned seven.
He took the death of his teacher and friend very hard. In fact, it became evident that he was bitter at God over the loss and he began a decline into rebellion that lasted until his 24th year. His father was the captain of a merchant ship and his son accompanied him on several voyages before his father retired. He soon became a seaman himself, usually on slave ships, and was living a pretty loose life when God intervened in dramatic fashion.
He was returning to England after delivering a shipload to America when a violent storm arose. It was so severe that the crew tied themselves to the ship to keep from being swept overboard. As he was attempting to steer the ship, he experienced what he was to later refer to as his "great deliverance". He wrote in his journal that when all seemed lost and the ship would surely sink, he exclaimed, "Lord, have mercy upon us".
Later in his cabin, he reflected on what he had said and began to believe that God had addressed him through the storm and that grace had begun to work for him. For the rest of his life, he observed May 10, 1748 as the day of his conversion, a day of humiliation in which he subjected his will to a higher power.
He continued in the slave trade for a time after his conversion, but he made sure that the slaves were treated humanely. In 1750 he married and, after a serious illness, retired from the sea in 1755. Soon he met John Wesley and George Whitefield and decided to become a minister. He was ordained and became a pastor in 1764. He drew large crowds and influenced many, including William Wilberforce, who would one day become a leader in the campaign to abolish slavery. He died in 1807 and instructed that his epitaph read: "John Newton, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy". (2)
In case you haven't realized it yet, John Newton was the composer of "Amazing Grace", probably one of the Christian world's most popular and beloved hymns. It is with this historical background that he penned the words which have become so familiar to us:
- Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see!Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come.
'Tis grace that brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.
Grace is the third thing which links our readings today, for it was the grace of the Spirit which was conferred on David after he was anointed by Samuel. And it was the grace of God that led a blind man from referring to Christ as "the man who healed me" to "he is a prophet" and finally to his profession of belief: "I do believe, Lord".
Each of us has been anointed at baptism with the oil of catechumens and holy oil. As Christians, we have all been chosen by God to go forth and bear fruit. And yet many of us feel like little Davids or Samaritan women or blind men, the last ones who would be selected by God to do wondrous things like slay Goliath, or convince the Pharisees about who Christ was, or preach the gospel and write the words which have inspired so many. And yet we have all received the grace of the Spirit at our own baptism, the same Spirit which was conferred on David, the same Spirit which brought a once-blind man to believe in Christ.
As we reach the halfway point of our annual Lenten journey, we need to ask ourselves how God may be calling us to reveal his goodness to others. We need to ask ourselves how we are answering the baptismal charge we have each received to be agents of Christ's light to the world. If we don't believe that we have been called to do wondrous things, each in our own weakness, then God will have a way of reaching out and touching us, just as he reached out and selected David through Samuel. Just as Christ reached out and healed a blind man and selected him to evangelize to the Pharisees. Just as God reached out and touched the heart of John Newton in a fierce storm at sea. The sooner we believe that God has truly touched our lives, the sooner we will be able to do those wondrous things that he has planned for us to do from the beginning of time. After all,
- 'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.
1. From Tom Miller at ttaspmil@bloomnet.com .
2. For more info on John Newton, please check out the following web sites from which my summary was derived:
http://www.joyfulheart.com/misc/newton.htm and
http://www.flash.net/~gaylon/jnewton.htm.
(Copyright 2017 by the Spirit through Deacon Sil Galvan with a little help from the friends noted above. Permission is freely granted for use, in whole or in part, in oral presentations. For permission to use in writing, please contact the human intermediary at deaconsil@comcast.net.)
Lord Jesus, you came to show sinners the way to eternal life. Lord, have mercy.
Christ Jesus, you came to heal the sick and give sight to the blind. Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you are the light of the world. Lord, have mercy.
Celebrant: Christ, our Light, became one like us to lead us out of the blindness of sin and into the light of everlasting life. Confident that God will hear us, we bring our needs to the Father.
Deacon/Lector: Our response is "Christ, be our light".
That the leaders of the church will reveal the light of Christ to all by the way they live, we pray to the Lord.
That the leaders of the nations of the world will do all in their power to bring peace on earth and end the war in Ukraine, we pray to the Lord.
That the sick, the terminally ill and those who are grieving the loss of a loved one will feel the healing touch of the Good Shepherd, we pray to the Lord.
That the members of the church will enable all of those with mental or physical disabilities to use their talents for the benefit of society, we pray to the Lord.
That all those preparing for the Easter sacraments, as well as their families and sponsors, will come to a deeper appreciation of the meaning of the Gospel in their lives, we pray to the Lord.
That all those affected by natural disasters, including by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, will be strengthened in their efforts to rebuild their lives, we pray to the Lord.
For all of the intentions we hold in our hearts and which we now recall in silence. (Pause) For all of these intentions, we pray to the Lord.
Celebrant: Gracious Father, your Son gave sight to the man born blind. Grant us the grace of your Spirit to open our eyes and see the face of Christ in all we meet. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.