THE 4TH SUNDAY O0F LENT 2011 - ERADICATING THE BLINDNESS WE HARDLY REALIZE WE HAVE...........

On this 4th Sunday of Lent, which with its bright and warm sunshine, that we can rightfully call the Springtime of the Church; the Sacred Scriptures challenge us in repentance and conversion, to consider the story of The Man Born Blind, from John's Gospel, Chapter 11: 1-45.  Physical Blindness is a daunting disability for any human being.  The Man Born Blind in the Gospel, not only had to contend with the harrowing experience of living his life with no visual sight; but when he encountered and was healed by Jesus, was confronted by the Scribes and the Pharisees, with the charge of being a Sinner, because he would not criticize or condemn the One who gave him his sight.  Even at the height of his physical blindness, The Man Born Blind, possessed a more deeply profound, and greater magnitude, of Sight.  A sight that was rooted in Faith.  The Pharisees and the Scribes are the sinners in this story, for even with the fullness of their physical vision, they were greviously, spiritually blind.  They could not, or would not, see the critical deficiency in themselves - a serious lack of Faith or Fidelity in anything  but their own self absorbed desires to be judgmental and hypocritical castigators of the Truth.  The reality of their Sinfulness prevented them from even beginning to eliminate the presence of sin in their own lives.  Lent is our renewed opportunity to eradicate the obstruction of sin, selfishness, and self absorbtion from the Faith and Fidelity in and to, Jesus we profess and seek to practice as Disciples of the Christ.  May this Lent be a time for you, of cutting through the overbrush of sin that has accumulated in your lives.  And seeing with the New Eyes of Living Faith, may you give praise to God, for increasing your ability to see physically and spiritually, all that you are being called to embrace as Catholic-Christian Believers...........God Loves Us And Calls Us To Walk In The Light,   Fr.  Troy