(This article courtesy of the Arlington Catholic Herald.)
Sitting in a pew as a young man in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris one Sunday, he heard a voice tell him: “There is a God.” This experience, this insight, shaped his entire life. In one of his most poignant plays, a blind girl says to those around her with sight: “You people who can see, what do you do with the light?”
Her question can be asked of us: What do you and I do with the light? Or, are we without light, are we without sight? Are we blind? I propose that we are both: sometimes with sight, and sometimes without sight; sometimes seeing, other times blind. The whole of our human Christian life is a process of becoming more and more a light, and bringing others into light. It is not a solitary process, but one which takes place with Another: Christ, the Light of the world. In the Gospel of St. John, Jesus tells us: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (Jn. 8:12).
So often we are blind: without sight, paralyzed, without vision. We are without sight in that we do not understand or accept ourselves as the gifts that God created us to be. We are without sight many times in our relationships with others, and with God. These relationships are often confusing or “dark.” We are also without sight when life seems monotonous, and we say to ourselves: “Is this all there is?” We are paralyzed by fear, uncertainty, ongoing difficulties and loneliness. And we are without vision when hope seems fleeting, far away, even lost, and we say to ourselves: “There seems so little promise.”
How we need to come into the Light, as the blind man in the Gospel! We are told: “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (One who has been sent).” We need to go to Christ, the Light, the Son of God, who has been sent to us as our Savior! We must go to Him to experience again the renewal of our baptismal washing. Indeed, Lent is linked with Baptism. At Baptism, we were freed from the darkness of original sin and its effects, and recreated in Christ Jesus. St. Paul tells us: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (II Cor. 5:17) The purpose of Lent is to reclaim what happened to us at our Baptism, to rediscover our true self, to grow more into the image of Christ in whom we are recreated. Prayer, penance, good deeds: these are concrete ways to such a reclaiming, rediscovery and growth. Go to Christ the Light and let Him enlighten you!
It is not only ourselves who are sometimes blind: without sight, paralyzed and without vision. Our brothers and sisters are also blind, whether they be family members, friends or coworkers. Like us, they too experience secret fears and terrors, inner pain and loneliness, private hells and ongoing crosses. They, too, feel confusion, evil and error all around them. We are told in our second reading to “Live as children [as people] of light … light produces every kind of goodness…”. Do our words and actions reflect the light of generosity, goodness, patience and forgiveness? Do we pray for others, carrying them to the Lord and asking: “take care of him/her for me, Lord”? Do we give of ourselves and reach out, in quiet, ordinary ways: with a note, a phone call, a visit, a smile or a listening heart? Are we compassionate? Are we disciplined enough to go beyond ourselves to others? Are our lives an invitation to others: “Come with me to Christ the Light! Let us journey together through darkness into light”? Go to Christ and let him make you a light!
Not only David, but also you and I have been anointed with oil and the Holy Spirit, first at Baptism and, then, at Confirmation, and set aside for a special role: to be a light for others and to bring them to the Light who is Christ. If we truly live this season of Lent we, like the blind man, will gradually see more and more as Christ the Light shines within us and through us. In these days in which the darkness of terrorism and war have engulfed a great part of the world, let us recommit ourselves to becoming light! In these days in which the world is struggling with the question of evil, let us be beacons of goodness. In these days when New York and the Pentagon are rebuilding structures, Afghanistan, Israel and Palestine are struggling to rebuild their very societies, and women and men everywhere are struggling to find meaning in their personal lives, let us bring to them sight and vision — let us bring Jesus the only and true Light of the world!
Yes, the blind girl is asking you and me: “You people who claim to follow Christ the Light, you people who claim to see, what do you do with the Light? The blind girl asked, only you and I can give the answer. What are we doing with the Light?
