While reflecting on the readings of this Fourth Sunday of Lent which is called Laetare (Joyful) Sunday, I remember a blind joke because the story in today’s Gospel according to Saint John (Jn 9:1-41) is about the man born blind.
The blind joke:
“Q: Why do blind people like medicines?
A: Because of their sight effects.”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus has the “medicines” that have “sight effects.” He makes clay with his saliva. After smearing clay on the blind man’s eyes, Jesus directs him, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam” (Jn 9: 7). Saint John deliberately inserts in his gospel the meaning of Siloam, “which means Sent” (Jn 9:7). Here, Saint John wants to convey that Jesus is the “One Sent” and that if we would “go” to Jesus, He will “wash” our blindness and we will be able to see and believe.
In the context of the liturgical season of Lent, the pool of Siloam signifies Baptism as a sacrament of enlightenment. As catechumens prepare for their Baptism and as we who had been baptized prepare for its renewal on Easter Vigil, we hear Saint Paul in the Second Reading (Eph 5:8-14): “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (Eph 5:8). The catechumens, just like all the baptized, will be called “the enlightened.”
Like the blind man in the Gospel, we were also blind from birth. We “were once darkness” because of sin, caused by Satan, “the father of lies” (Jn 8:44), the father of fake news. Satan deceived our first parents and made us all blind. Satan continues to deceive us and now he has a powerful weapon – social media. Since many people are blinded by fake news in social media, these words of Saint Paul in the Second Reading are very relevant: “Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them” (Eph 5:11). As “the enlightened,” each of us must shine like Jesus who is the “light of the world” (Jn 9:5). “Expose them” and proclaim the truth!
Like David who is chosen to be king of God’s people as we hear from the First Reading (1 Sm 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a), we have also been chosen to live up to our baptismal calling, to bring the light of faith to this dark world.
At this point, I remember the story of Saint Juan Diego. God chose him through Our Lady of Guadalupe who first appeared to him on December 9, 1531 at the Tepeyac hill. I was blessed to have climbed this hill when we went on a pilgrimage to Mexico exactly three years ago today. Saint Juan Diego brought the light of faith to the dark world of the Aztecs whose religious practices included human sacrifice.
Today, “human sacrifices” are being offered by modern “Aztecs” in the altars of Pleasure, Prestige, and Power – human trafficking, prostitution, abortion, civilians killed in the war in Ukraine, victims of online gambling, illegal drugs, poverty, social inequality, and climate change.
Like Saint Juan Diego, we can help stop the present “human sacrifices” by “going” to Jesus, the “One Sent” by the Father to give us, his blind children, the “medicines” that have “sight effects.” As the “enlightened,” we bring the light of faith that gives joy to this dark and sad world.