HOMILY for March 26, 2017: 4th Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

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4^th Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

St. Mark Parish 4:00 pm Mass

March 26, 2017

The Call to Initiate and Fear Not in Doing So

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

Jesus Initiates

In today’s Gospel story Jesus takes the initiative. He sees a man who was born blind from birth and does not turn his eyes away.

In not turning he quickly clears up the mistaken belief that this man’s blindness was due to sin.  Passersby would all turn the other way admitting by their actions that sinfulness was the cause of his blindness.

That is why Jesus initiative is more than just a kind gesture. 

Note that he then makes a mud paste with soil and saliva, and smears it on the man’s eyes.

He then tells the man to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam.  And notice that the passage carefully says that the name “Siloam” means “Sent.”

So this man is “sent” to the pool to wash.  And, after his healing, he is again “sent” and this time to proclaim his faith in Jesus.

In being sent, he professes Jesus as a good man, a prophet, and finally the Son of Man.  The title “Son of Man” means the human being closest to God.

And so this man is both (1) Healed and (2) Sent, and he goes.

We Initiate

In this story, we are challenged to take the initiative in the name of Jesus in assisting someone in need.

As with Jesus, we don’t need to know the background or worthiness of the person.  We assist in healing simply because the individual is in need. At times that person whom we’ve touched by our kindness will experience a sending, a sharing their being helped with others.

So someone is seriously sick; we assist with companionship, with caring for their personal needs, sharing prayer with them. 

And as Jesus sends the blind man to testify to others, we “send,” in some small way, the sick person to share their good experience with others who may not even know us or what we did.

Or a family member or someone we know has an addiction, we try to hang in there with them without enabling them.   And our “sending” of this person may be our guidance of them toward a twelve-step program. 

They Are Afraid

The other major point I want to note from our Gospel is that some people are afraid of Jesus’ gift of seeing.

Notice, the man’s parents and neighbors, and the religious leaders, do not rejoice in the man’s eyesight.  Instead, they find fault with Jesus.

And their reaction gets to the underlying gift that Jesus is giving here – spiritual eyesight, to see with God’s eyes. The passage uses the word “afraid” to describe how they respond.

These people are afraid to admit that Jesus enables the man to see physically because then they would have to admit that he enables all of us to see who he really is and what he’s able to do. They are afraid of this because they are not sure what it would mean for them.

It might mean that they would have to change in some way and follow him, so their fear, then, leads them to remain spiritually blind to him.

We Are Afraid

Being afraid can also keep us from seeing – from seeing spiritually, from seeing as our parish sign says, “With the eyes of God.”

I have been thinking of the genuine fear so many have of Muslims and of Islam.  Fear has led some to demonize all Muslims.

It is something like the dynamic we see in today’s Gospel.  The religious leaders see Jesus as sinful because he has broken the Sabbath law.

And because of that, they make a generalization and believe that nothing good can come from him.  For them, if a person does one thing wrong, the entire person is bad.

That same dynamic is at play when we see whole groups of people – be they Muslims or any minority.  If some of the group do evil – as the terrorists – then the whole group must be bad, sinful. It was said of Italian and Irish immigrants.

Fear, being afraid, is what leads us to this.  When we let fear control us, we are like the parents and neighbors and religious leaders in this story.

We are blocked from seeing – from seeing with the eyes of God and his treatment of all persons as brothers and sisters, as God’s daughters and sons.  That fear and its blindness led the people to reject Jesus.

Things get turned upside down in the Gospel where the blind see and those who see become blind.

Conclusion

Today’s Gospel has much to teach us.

It calls us (1) To take the initiative in coming to the needs of other, regardless, and (2) To work through our fear and be open to seeing with the eyes of God.

HOMILY for March 19, 2017: 3rd Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

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3^rd Sunday of Lent

Mepkin Abbey

March 19, 2017

Vulnerability and Transformation

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

Vulnerability

Brené Brown is a Research Sociologist and, in a recent TED Talk video clip I watched, she states that connection is why we are here on earth. It’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives.

As believers, we understand that well, for not only is the triune God we believe in about connection, namely, the connection between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit …

But our lives here each day and hereafter are about connection, connection with a God who created us, connection with a son who redeemed us, and connection with a Holy Spirit that sustains us.

Yes, we long to be connected. After all, no one wants to be alone. Not you, not I, not the Samaritan woman in the Gospel, we just heard proclaimed.

But a larger question now arises. “What can the connectedness of Jesus and the woman, teach us about how we might get better connected with Jesus and with one another?”

The Samaritan Woman’s Vulnerability

For the answer we need to delve into the Gospel a bit.

As I read and meditated on this very familiar encounter at Jacob’s well in ancient Samaria, I began to see that the woman manifests a very important trait, a trait that seems to be what moves the Gospel story forward.

She is vulnerable! She allows herself to be vulnerable. How is she vulnerable?

(1)  For starters, she a woman and a Samaritan and she is engaging in a conversation with a man, and a Jewish man at that, for Jews had only disdain for Samaritans, so she’s opened herself up to possible reprimand and ridicule.

(2)  Then, notice, she first sees Jesus as merely a thirsty stranger, then as a prophet, then as the Messiah. Her vulnerability is seen in her admitting she has been mistaken several times regarding who he really is.

(3)  Following that, she’s confronted with her half-truth. When asked by Jesus to have her call her husband, she admits she doesn’t have one, but doesn’t reveal she’s really had 5 husbands and the man she’s living with isn’t her husband. Here we see squarely her vulnerability in facing the truth. 

(4)  Finally, she returns home and tells the townsfolk, "He told me everything I have done" and reveals her vulnerability in risking rejection from her people because of their hatred of the Jews.

(5)  We can say she fits perfectly, the dictionary definition of vulnerable as, “Susceptible to physical or emotional attack.” The word is from the Latin vulnerare, meaning “to wound.”

She’s certainly left herself open to be wounded.

Our Vulnerability

Being weak and vulnerable isn’t a trait any of us wishes to be associated with, so let’s admit that we do admire strength and importance. We admire self-sufficiency, autonomy, being a self-made person. After all, this is the American way.

Yet, the Gospel would have us turn this kind of strength upside down and instead to make weakness and vulnerability what we aspire to.

So I ask you, “What makes you feel vulnerable?”

(1)  Having to ask someone for help in a task you’re no longer able to do, like feeding yourself because you are sick?

(2)  Initiating an overdue apology?

(3)  Waiting for the doctor to call you back with the test results?

(4)  Losing your job, your position, your pension?

(5)  Avoiding a conflict when someone wants to use the same thing at the same time, like the car or the computer?

(6)  Not responding in kind, when someone has reacted to you harshly?

This is the world we live in and yet, they are all opportunities for encountering the Lord!

Conclusion

As I quoted when I began, “Connection is why we are here. It’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives.”

Picturing the interaction of the woman and Jesus at the well, we see how her vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity.

As Lent deepens and moves into Passiontide, I would invite you to picture how your being vulnerable with one other person can be a source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity.

If we want greater clarity in your purpose, or if you want a deeper and more meaningful spiritual life, vulnerability with another is the path.

And it can be encountered in your everyday interactions with each other, as it was with a woman and a thirsty stranger she met at a well!