On this 4th Sunday of Lent, also known to us as Laetare Sunday, we come to celebrate the 2nd scrutiny. It is the purpose of the scrutinies to further prepare those to be baptized for their baptism.
In our Gospel we encounter the man born blind. The physical healing that is brought about within this man is equal to that spiritual healing that the Lord desires to bring about within each of us. It was through his encounter with the Lord that he was able to see, so to through our encounter with the Lord is our blindness corrected.
These individuals who will receive this scrutiny will be baptized at the Easter vigil. So too for us who have been baptized should remain attentive to this lesson. For through baptism we were made children of God. It was through these waters that our eyes were opened wide to the Lord as sin and death came to be washed away.
Despite this life giving encounter with the Lord we still need to constantly awaken our spiritual vision. Through our baptism we receive the outpouring of God’s grace which awakens within us our supernatural destiny of Heaven. It is through our consent to temptation that we enter into sin and move away from God. In return we become blind to the divine truths of faith.
It is Christ who heals these vision problems that have been brought about through sin. Through the sacraments we continue to encounter Him and He continues to reach out in order to heal us. Where sin has cast us into this state of blindness it is Christ in the Sacrament of Confession who opens our eyes. Where we struggle with the mundane of everyday life it is Christ present with us in the Eucharist who opens our eyes.
During this Lenten journey I suggest that you begin to develop the practice of making a daily examination of conscience. Here you take the time to reflect upon your day and the ways in which you have turned away from the Lord and make an Act of Contrition. This practice assists us in making a better sacramental confession and attunes our heart to constantly seak out the infinite mercy of God which heals us.
Let us come to further bring sight unto our eyes. Not through our own merit, but through Christ and the abundant mercy which He brings into our life. Let us come to further cultivate our faith and be willing to enter further into God’s abundant love. It is through our encounter with Jesus in the sacraments that this healing is made so. Let us come to place our trust in Him in order that sight may be brought to our eyes.
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