Weekend Reflection for 3/28/14

The Blindness to Enslave Us

The neighbors of the blind man and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is,” but others said, “No, he just looks like him.” He said, “I am.” So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?” He replied, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see.” (John 9: 8-11)

Something bad happens when I take off my glasses. Everything disappears or gets blurry. At best I can see people “like trees walking.” My world becomes smaller, for beyond five feet all is fog. Without my glasses my world and my life shrinks. Without my glasses I am functionally blind. Thank God for my glasses!

But there is a greater blindness, I feel. That is to see only with my eyes! Can I see also with my heart? Can I see with the light of faith?

Too often I see only with my eyes. I see labels; I see stereotypes. I see through the lenses of prejudice and fear and preconception. And I miss so much around me.

Do I see others as the images and likenesses of God? Do I see them as temples of the Holy Spirit? Do I see them as precious children of God? (Yes, even my enemies, even that politician, even that pain…)

Without faith I am also functionally blind — for I do not see Christ playing…

…in ten thousand places,

Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his

To the Father through the features of men's faces.