Homily
Lent 4
‘The man said, “Lord, I believe,” and worshipped him.’ John 8:38
As I sat down to prepare this week’s homily I was very aware that it’s the first I have prepared for this particular Sunday that was not for an all age gathering to celebrate the Fourth Sunday in Lent that by tradition is also Mothering Sunday. I then became aware that it is the first time, also I have ever prepared a homily intended to be read and not preached. These two thoughts came together as I read today’s lections and I remembered the maxim by which I try to live by, instilled in me by my mother, ‘Life is grey and not black and white!’
Normally today we would be reminding ourselves that we are mid-way through the season of Lent and from today that the preparations for the celebration of the Holy Triduum would now begin. The famous entrance antiphon that brings another title for this Sunday to mind – ‘Laetare Sunday’, characterised by the liturgical colour of rose pink calls us to a “Rejoice” However, we must surely all admit, in the current situation there is, on the surface, little in which to rejoice. That is until we remind ourselves that today is Sunday – the weekly commemoration of the Resurrection, the festival for which for which we have been preparing these last three and a half weeks, the festival, the celebration, whichever ways, this year we shall observe it, remain unknown: the festival that unites us in our faith in eternal life and therefore, Christ’s continued presence in the world.
I hope everyone will have read the Gospel reading of the healing of the man born blind. We meet Jesus in Jerusalem for the feast of Tabernacles. As part of this festival they carried water from the Pool of Siloam to the Temple, which was illuminated by the blaze of four sets of great candles. Jesus puts mud paste on the man’s eyes and tells him to wash it off in the Pool of Siloam, having done so his physical sight was restored and a stir is created. The man is quite factual in his response to his interrogation; he mad been healed by “The man called Jesus.” The Pharisees become divide among themselves: some recognise God’s hand in the healing but others simply see Jesus as a sinner for breaking the sabbath rules. Under pressure the man asserts himself and recognises that Jesus must be a prophet. The Pharisees check out his parents to see if he was really born blind but they are afraid; they acknowledge their son, and that he was blind, but they wont say any more. The Pharisees insist the man denies the miracle but only make the man bolder to address them with these words:-
“We know that God does not listen to sinners, but God does listen to men who are devout and do his will.”
Thankfully they only cast him out of the Temple for Jesus was able to search for him and challenge him to a further enlightenment as he proclaims his faith in Jesus with the simple words – “Lord I believe!”
We should note how its is that the blind man comes to faith gradually and in the face of persecution and abuse. Lent is always the time when we are called to review our faith and its relevance at the core of our lives. This Lent, it seems to me, this has an even greater significance in that forced as we are to rely on private devotion, as like he did the blind man, in these devotions Jesus searches us out and longs for us to proclaim with him –“Lord I believe” both spiritually and in our dealings with the current situation.
It is with sadness and joy that Fr Andrew and I are offering the Mass in private each day: sadness because we can’t rejoice when you come to join us, joy in that we are privileged to be able to continue to offer The Holy Sacrifice for you. We encourage you most sincerely to join with us in prayer by making use of the devotional material available and, when possible, to come to Church for private prayer.
