March 15, 2026 - Fourth Sunday of Lent

[00:00:00] Foreign. [00:00:06] Welcome. [00:00:08] Today is March 15th, the fourth Sunday of Lent. [00:00:23] Let's begin in prayer. [00:00:26] Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy. [00:00:32] Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work too may be holy. [00:00:38] Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy? [00:00:46] Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy. [00:00:52] Guard me then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy. [00:01:00] Holy spirit. Prayer of St. Augustine. [00:01:12] Let us reflect now on today's gospel. [00:01:21] There are two ways to approach religion. [00:01:24] One is to see it as a fixed set of truths boxed in set a pat hand. [00:01:32] Another way is to see it as a call to believe in truths that eye has not fully seen nor ear fully heard. [00:01:41] It is a call to ongoing discovery that challenges, consoles and sometimes discomforts. [00:01:57] Today's gospel about the miracle of the man born blind starkly contrasts those two approaches. [00:02:05] The Pharisees stand pat. [00:02:08] They are disciples of Moses and everything has been set. [00:02:13] They are not open to any new discovery, any new insight, any new way of looking at things. [00:02:24] The other approach is represented by, of all people, the blind man. [00:02:31] He is the only one who can say, I don't know. [00:02:35] He is the only one really open to discovery and to the eye opener that Jesus is. [00:02:44] Sometimes it's hard to resist the temptation to approach religion as something fixed and finished. [00:02:52] It seems to involve less risk and less pain. [00:02:56] That is the attraction of fundamentalism. [00:03:01] But to be a disciple of the Lord is to walk behind him, turn corners and make discoveries. [00:03:11] The disciples were always doing that. [00:03:16] We have to open ourselves up to the freshness of the Word as it is proclaimed in our times. [00:03:25] Our entire life is meant to be a process of opening our eyes, widening our vision. [00:03:34] We are called to imitate the blind man, not the Pharisees. [00:03:51] Spend some quiet time with the Lord.