Texts taken from the “On Your Word” Missalette March-April 2023

4th Sunday of Lent (A) “Laetare”
4th week, leap

FIRST READING

From the First Book of Samuel (1 Sam 16:1b, 4, 6-7, 10-13)
In those days, the Lord said to Samuel: “Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have chosen a king from among his sons.” Samuel did what the Lord had commanded him. When he entered, he saw Eliab and said: “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before him!” But the Lord said to Samuel: “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For it is not as man sees: man sees the appearance, but the Lord looks into the heart.” Jesse presented his seven sons before Samuel, and Samuel repeated to Jesse: “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” Then Samuel asked Jesse: “Are these all the young men you have?” Jesse replied: “There is still the youngest, who is tending the flock.” Samuel said to Jesse: “Send for him, because we will not sit down to eat until he comes here.” Jesse sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said: “Rise and anoint him: he is the one!” Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day onward. – The word of the Lord.

Commentary on the first reading

Today’s first reading helps us purify the way we look at the world and at others, recalibrating it according to God’s gaze. Even the old Samuel must learn to see with God’s own eyes. The Lord has literally seen among Jesse’s sons a king according to his will, and now he sends the prophet to consecrate him. How can he identify among the young men passing before him the one God has chosen? Samuel sees the qualities of the firstborn, similar to those of the previous king, Saul, but the Lord points him toward another criterion for discernment: God’s seeing differs from human observation, because it looks to the heart rather than outward appearance. By conforming himself to God’s gaze, Samuel is able to reject Jesse’s handsome sons and then accept without hesitation the invitation to anoint the youngest as king, the one his father had not even considered. The Lord’s Spirit will rest permanently upon this boy, the Spirit who definitively abandons King Saul, rejected by God for his proud disobedience.

SECOND READING

From the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians  (Eph 5:8-14)
Brothers and sisters, once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Therefore live as children of light; for the fruit of light consists in every kind of goodness, righteousness, and truth. Try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not take part in the works of darkness that bear no fruit; rather, expose them openly. For it is shameful even to mention what is done in secret by [those who disobey God], whereas 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.” – The word of the Lord.

Commentary on the second reading

The key term in this Pauline passage is the word “light,” with a precise reference to the sacrament of Baptism. Through it, Christians become “children of light,” that is, members of Christ, the “light of the world.” From this real transformation follows, when one responds to grace, a different way of life, so that the works of the baptized become the fruit of the sacrament received, the fragrance of Christ and the perfume of his Name spreading throughout the earth. From light comes everything that is just, true, and good. These are the three principal fruits the Apostle mentions because of their particular reference to community life: benevolent love, respect for the rights of others, and sincerity in words and deeds. An authentically Christian way of life is therefore a ray of light that not only - and not primarily - judges the darkness, but penetrates it in order to transform it. Through his life, the disciple of Christ is therefore a missionary: awakened from the sleep of death (such is life before Baptism), he in turn awakens consciences so that they may become fruitful in goodness instead of fruitless.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to John (Jn 9:1-41)

At that time, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth, and 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 manifested in him. We must 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, smeared the clay on the blind man’s 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 before, because he was a beggar, said: “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said: “It is he”; others said: “No, but he looks like him.” He said: “I am the one!” So they asked him: “How were your eyes opened?” He replied: “The man called Jesus made clay and smeared it on my eyes and told me: ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I was able to see.” They asked him: “Where is he?” He said: “I do not know.” They brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. It was a Sabbath, the day when Jesus had made the clay and opened his eyes. The Pharisees also asked him again how he had gained his sight. He said to them: “He put clay on my eyes, I washed, and now I see.” So some of the Pharisees said: “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath.” Others said: “How can a sinner perform such signs?” And there was division among them. So they said again to the blind man: “What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?” He replied: “He is a prophet!” But the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had gained his sight until they summoned his parents, the parents of the one who had gained his sight. They questioned them: “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How is it that he now sees?” His parents replied: “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind; but how he now sees, we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age and can speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who acknowledged him as the Christ would be expelled from the synagogue. This is why his parents said: “He is of age; ask him!” So they summoned the man who had been blind again and said to him: “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” He replied: “Whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know: I was blind and now I see.” So they asked him: “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them: “I already told you, but you would 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 man is from.” The man answered them: “This is astonishing: you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but that if anyone is devout and does his will, he listens to him. Since the beginning of the world, it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him: “You were born totally in sin, and you are trying to teach us?” Then they threw him out. Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said: “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered: “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 Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him: “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus answered them: “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” –
The Gospel of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the day

Through the experience of the man born blind, we know that Jesus does not ignore our suffering, but stops and meets us just as we are. This encounter radically changes life. The blind man is not healed only of his blindness; through the specific gestures accompanying his healing, which recall the creation of humanity, we understand that Jesus does not merely heal but goes further: he recreates a new life! The blind man will regain not only his sight, but also the courage and dignity to look others in the face, eye to eye. He no longer needs to be ashamed and is not afraid to confront those Pharisees who, instead of rejoicing at his healing, set up a trial against him. Now it is the others who are afraid of him, including his parents, paralyzed by public opinion. Once healed, the blind man’s task is to testify to the joy of the new light he has received. Today we make the Pharisees’ question to Jesus our own: “Surely we are not blind too?” because we could be people who “have eyes and do not see” (Ps 115). Instead, enlightened by Christ, may each person reopen the eyes of the heart and say to the world: “One thing I do know: I was blind and now I see.”