Fourth Sunday of Lent
Massimo Palombella
Galleria nazionale di Parma
Today’s Gospel (Jn 9:1-41) recounts the story of the man born blind and healed by Jesus.
It is interesting to note the real blindness that emerges in the Gospel passage, namely that of the Jews who are incapable, precisely, of seeing beyond their preconceptions.
In the attitude of the Jews, we can often also recognise our own blindness whenever the educational and cultural baggage of our life prevents us from seeing “beyond”, making us, in effect, blind. In fact, the culture in which we grew up, the education we received, the beliefs implicitly learnt, for better or for worse have led us and made us capable of making choices, of doing important things even with small and poor motivations. But all this represents something to go ‘beyond’ in order to really see, to personalise life, to really find our unique and special identity.
Our cultural-educational baggage can be a prison, a cage or a springboard, a force to encounter reality as it is, and not as I wish – or have been taught – to be.
Our relationship with the Lord, if it is authentic, slowly leads us to see more and more, that is, to encounter reality, to allow ourselves to be encountered by reality, to abandon survival patterns, to separate ourselves from what we must separate ourselves from in order to be the persons we should and are called to be.
The Communion antiphon of today’s celebration is taken from Chapter IX of the Gospel of John (Jn 9:6. 11. 38) with the following text:
“Lutum fecit ex sputo Dominus, et linivit oculos meos:
et abii, et lavi, et vidi, et credidi Deo.”
(The Lord made some clay with his spittle, and he spread it over my eyes;
and I went forth, I washed myself, I began to see, and I put my faith in God).
The attached music, in Gregorian Chant, is taken from the Graduale Triplex published in Solesmes in 1979.
The interpretation is by the Consortium Vocale conducted by Alexander M. Schweitzer. The music track can be found on the CD ‘Exaudiam Eum – Gregorian Chant for Lent and Holy Week’ published by Lindberg Lyd in 2007.
A blessed Sunday and heartfelt greetings.
