Scott Hahn with David Scott
God’s ways of seeing are not our ways, we hear in today’s First Reading. Jesus illustrates this in the Gospel—as the blind man comes to see and the Pharisees are made blind.
The blind man stands for all humanity. “Born totally in sin” he is made a new creation by the saving power of Christ.
As God fashioned the first man from the clay of the earth (see Genesis 2:7), Jesus gives the blind man new life by anointing his eyes with clay (see John 9:11). As God breathed the spirit of life into the first man, the blind man is not healed until he washes in the waters of Siloam, a name that means “Sent.”
Jesus is the One “sent” by the Father to do the Father’s will (see John 9:4; 12:44). He is the new source of life-giving water—the Holy Spirit who rushes upon us in Baptism (see John 4:10; 7:38-39).
This is the Spirit that rushes upon God’s chosen king David in today’s First Reading. A shepherd like Moses before him (see Exodus 3:1; Psalm 78:70-71), David is also a sign pointing to the good shepherd and king to come—Jesus (see John 10:11).
The Lord is our shepherd, as we sing in today’s Psalm. By his death and Resurrection He has made a path for us through the dark valley of sin and death, leading us to the verdant pastures of the kingdom of life, the Church.
In the restful waters of Baptism He has refreshed our souls. He has anointed our heads with the oil of Confirmation and spread the Eucharistic table before us, filling our cups to overflowing.
With the once-blind man we enter His house to give God the praise, to renew our vow: “I do believe, Lord.”
“The Lord looks into the heart,” we hear today. Let Him find us, as Paul advises in today’s Epistle, living as “children of light”—trying always to learn what is pleasing to our Father.
St. Ephrem
Commentary on the Diatesseron, 16, 28-31 (SC 121, 299)
“He made clay with his saliva, and smeared the clay on the blind man’s eyes.” And light sprang out of the earth as in the beginning… when darkness covered everything and he commanded the light and it came to be out of darkness (Gn 1,2-3).
Thus he healed a handicap present from birth to show that he, whose hand accomplished what was lacking to nature, was truly the one whose hand had formed creation in the beginning. And as they refused to believe that he had existed before Abraham (Jn 8,57), he proved by this deed that he was the Son of him who, with his own hand, «formed the first Adam out of clay» (Gn 2,7).
IHe did this for the sake of those who needed miracles if they were to believe: «The Jews look for miracles» (1Cor 1,22). It was not the pool of Siloam that opened the blind man’s eyes, just as it was not the water of the Jordan that cleansed Naaman (2Kgs 5,14): it was the Lord’s command that did it all.
Further: it is not the water used in baptism but the name of the Trinity spoken over it that purifies us. «He smeared the clay on his eyes» that the Pharisees might clean away the blindness of their hearts… Those who could see this material light were guided by a blind man who saw the light of the spirit and, in his darkness, the blind man was guided by those who saw outwardly but who were spiritually blind.
The blind man washed the clay from his eyes and was himself seen; the others washed the blindness from their hearts and were themselves tested. And so, by outwardly opening a blind man’s eyes our Lord interiorly opened the eyes of many other blind people… Wonderful treasures are hidden in these few words of our Lord, and in this healing is traced a symbol: Jesus, the son of the Creator.
Saint Irenaeus of Lyons
Against Heresies, V, 15, 2-4; SC 153, 205-211
“He is the image of the invisible God…; For in him were created all things…; all things were created through him and for him” (Col 1, 15-16)
To the man who had been blind from birth He gave sight, not by means of a word but by an outward action; doing this not without a purpose or because it so happened, but that He might show forth the hand of God which at the beginning had moulded man. And therefore, when His disciples asked Him for what cause the man had been born blind, whether for his own or his parents’ fault, He replied: “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” Now the work of God is the fashioning of man. For, as Scripture says, He made [man] by a kind of process: “And the Lord took clay from the earth and formed man.” (Gn 2,7). Wherefore also the Lord spat on the ground and made clay and smeared it upon the eyes, pointing to the original fashioning [of man], how it was effected, and manifesting the hand of God to those who can understand by what [hand] man was formed out of the dust…
And inasmuch as man, with respect to that formation which, after Adam had fallen into transgression, needed the layer of regeneration, [the Lord] said to him [upon whom He had conferred sight], after He had smeared his eyes with the clay: “Go to Siloam, and wash;” thus restoring to him both [his perfect] confirmation and that regeneration which took place by means of the smearing. And so when he had washed he emerged seeing that he might both know Him who had fashioned him and might learn [to know] Him who has conferred life upon him …
But He, the very same who formed Adam at the beginning, with whom also the Father spoke, [saying], “Let Us make man after Our image and likeness,” revealing Himself in these last times to men, formed visual organs for him who had been blind [in that body which he had derived] from Adam.
Pope Benedict XVI
Angelus Address, April 3, 2011
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Lenten journey that we are taking is a special time of grace during which we can experience the gift of the Lord’s kindness to us. The Liturgy of this Sunday, called “Laetare”, invites us to be glad and rejoice as the Entrance Antiphon of the Eucharistic celebration proclaims: “Rejoice, Jerusalem! Be glad for her, you who love her; rejoice with her, you who mourned for her, and you will find contentment at her consoling breasts” (cf. Is 66: 10-11).
What is the profound reason for this joy? Today’s Gospel in which Jesus heals a man blind from birth tells us. The question which the Lord Jesus asks the blind man is the high point of the story: “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” (Jn 9:35). The man recognizes the sign worked by Jesus and he passes from the light of his eyes to the light of faith: “Lord, I believe!” (Jn 9:38).
It should be noted that as a simple and sincere person he gradually completes the journey of faith. In the beginning he thinks of Jesus as a “man” among others, then he considers him a “prophet” and finally his eyes are opened and he proclaims him “Lord”. In opposition to the faith of the healed blind man is the hardening of the hearts of the Pharisees who do not want to accept the miracle because they refuse to receive Jesus as the Messiah. Instead the crowd pauses to discuss the event and continues to be distant and indifferent. Even the blind man’s parents are overcome by the fear of what others might think.
And what attitude to Jesus should we adopt? Because of Adam’s sin we too are born “blind” but in the baptismal font we are illumined by the grace of Christ. Sin wounded humanity and destined it to the darkness of death, but the newness of life shines out in Christ, as well as the destination to which we are called. In him, reinvigorated by the Holy Spirit, we receive the strength to defeat evil and to do good.
In fact the Christian life is a continuous conformation to Christ, image of the new man, in order to reach full communion with God. The Lord Jesus is the “light of the world” (Jn 8:12), because in him shines “the knowledge of the glory of God” (2 Cor 4:6) that continues in the complex plot of the story to reveal the meaning of human existence.
In the rite of Baptism, the presentation of the candle lit from the large Paschal candle, a symbol of the Risen Christ, is a sign that helps us to understand what happens in the Sacrament. When our lives are enlightened by the mystery of Christ, we experience the joy of being liberated from all that threatens the full realization.
In these days which prepare us for Easter let us rekindle within us the gift received in Baptism, that flame which sometimes risks being extinguished. Let us nourish it with prayer and love for others. Let us entrust our Lenten journey to the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church so that all may encounter Christ, Saviour of the world.
After the Angelus:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Yesterday was the sixth anniversary of the death of my beloved Predecessor Venerable John Paul II. Because of his upcoming Beatification, I did not celebrate the traditional Mass of suffrage for him, but I remembered him with affection in prayer, as I am sure you did too. During the Lenten journey we prepare for Easter, we joyfully approach the day on which we will venerate as Blessed this great Pontiff, a witness to Christ, and rely even more on his intercession.
* * *
I offer a warm welcome to all the English-speaking visitors present for this Angelus prayer. I especially greet the students from the Oratory Preparatory School, Woodcote, and a group of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians studying in Rome. In today’s Gospel Jesus, the light of the world, gives sight to the man born blind. May the light of Christ, received in Baptism, always guide us through this life to the splendour of divine glory. Upon you and your families I invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace! I wish everyone a nice Sunday.
Pope Benedict XVI
Angelus Address, March 2, 2008
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On these Sundays in Lent the liturgy takes us on a true and proper baptismal route through the texts of John’s Gospel: last Sunday, Jesus promised the gift of “living water” to the Samaritan woman; today, by healing the man born blind, he reveals himself as “the light of the world”; next Sunday, in raising his friend Lazarus, he will present himself as “the resurrection and the life”. Water, light and life are symbols of Baptism, the Sacrament that “immerses” believers in the mystery of the death and Resurrection of Christ, liberating them from the slavery of sin and giving them eternal life.
Let us reflect briefly on the account of the man born blind (Jn 9: 1-41). According to the common mentality of the time, the disciples take it for granted that his blindness was the result of a sin committed by him or his parents. Jesus, however, rejects this prejudice and says: “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him” (Jn 9: 3).
What comfort these words offer us! They let us hear the living voice of God, who is provident and wise Love! In the face of men and women marked by limitations and suffering, Jesus did not think of their possible guilt but rather of the will of God who created man for life. And so he solemnly declares: “We must work the works of him who sent me…. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (Jn 9: 5).
And he immediately takes action: mixing a little earth with saliva he made mud and spread it on the eyes of the blind man. This act alludes to the creation of man, which the Bible recounts using the symbol of dust from the ground, fashioned and enlivened by God’s breath (Gn 2: 7). In fact, “Adam” means “ground” and the human body was in effect formed of particles of soil. By healing the blind man Jesus worked a new creation.
But this healing sparked heated debate because Jesus did it on the Sabbath, thereby in the Pharisees’ opinion violating the feast-day precept. Thus, at the end of the account, Jesus and the blind man are both cast out, the former because he broke the law and the latter because, despite being healed, he remained marked as a sinner from birth.
Jesus reveals to the blind man whom he had healed that he had come into the world for judgement, to separate the blind who can be healed from those who do not allow themselves to be healed because they consider themselves healthy. Indeed, the temptation to build himself an ideological security system is strong in man: even religion can become an element of this system, as can atheism or secularism, but in letting this happen one is blinded by one’s own selfishness.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us allow ourselves to be healed by Jesus, who can and wants to give us God’s light! Let us confess our blindness, our shortsightedness, and especially what the Bible calls the “great transgression” (cf. Ps 19[18]: 13): pride. May Mary Most Holy, who by conceiving Christ in the flesh gave the world the true light, help us to do this.
Post-Angelus Messages:
In the past few days the tension between Israel and the Gaza Strip has unfortunately reached very serious levels. I renew my pressing invitation to both the Israeli and Palestinian Authorities to stop this spiral of violence, unilaterally and without conditions: only by showing absolute respect for human life, even the life of one’s enemy, can we hope to give a future of peaceful coexistence to the young generations of these peoples who both have roots in the Holy Land. I invite the entire Church to raise supplications to the Almighty for peace in the Land of Jesus, and to show attentive and effective solidarity to both the Israeli and Palestinian Peoples.
I have been following with deep sorrow the dramatic event of the kidnapping in Iraq of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mossul for Chaldeans. I join in the appeal of the Patriarch, Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, and his collaborators so that the beloved Prelate, who is furthermore in a precarious state of health, may be released without delay. At the same time, I raise prayers of suffrage for the souls of the three young men killed, who were with him at the time of the kidnapping. In addition, I express my closeness to the whole Church in Iraq and in particular to the Chaldean Church which has once again received a heavy blow, while I encourage Pastors and all the faithful to be strong and steadfast in hope. May those who govern the destinies of the beloved Iraqi People redouble their efforts so that, through the commitment and wisdom of all, it may rediscover peace and security and not be denied the future to which it has a right.
Greetings:
I am happy to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present for this Angelus. In today’s Gospel, we encounter Jesus, the light of the world, who cures the man born blind. By opening our eyes to faith, to the light that comes from God, Jesus continues to cure us from the darkness of confusion and sin present in this world. May his light always purify our hearts and renew our Christian love as we journey with him to Eternal Life. I wish you all a pleasant stay in Rome, and a blessed Sunday!
