Episode 060 - Podcast | Jesus Heals A Man Born Blind And Exposes Our Spiritual Blindness

Hello and welcome to the Heart of the Homily Podcast.

I'm your host, Michelle Lopez, and I'm here with Father Rigoba, our pastor.

How's it going, Michelle?

Doing good, doing great.

Halfway through Lent.

I know.

We're already discussing the fourth Sunday.

It feels halfway.

So this past weekend was La Dante.

No.

Latari.

Letari.

My um you know, really great right now.

But that's different than Advent.

Right.

So Advent is Galgaite.

Okay.

There you go.

There you go.

So your Latin sounds really good, Father.

Um, so maybe we could start by do you want to share kind of what even that is, what that word means, and kind of Right.

So right almost halfway is where the church says, okay, take a little breather, almost a little oasis, and um rejoice.

And it comes from the entrance antiphon.

And one of the things that I I said in the homily, which I think is important to highlight, is that it's we're not rejoicing because East uh Lent is almost over, or that our discipline, or hopefully we've been disciplined, is easing up.

That's not the reason why we're rejoicing.

We're rejoicing because hopefully God has been doing something in this whole penitential season of praying, fasting, almsgiving.

Um, so hopefully we're tweaking, we're polishing, we're allowing for purification so that something is happening.

And as I said, this gospel is beautiful in the sense that it it really tells us, well, what is that is happening?

Yeah.

Well, Father, that was that clarity was actually really great because I was like, oh, call it out a little bit because I was like, my thought, I was like, oh, we're halfway there.

I'm almost done with my fast.

You know, I had those thoughts and I heard your humming.

I was like, oh, I mean, I'm excited about my fast closing, but I'm more excited about the conversion happening.

I was like, that is that I love what you're saying because that is so that's our human condition.

It is, right?

And it's almost like, okay, I have to I'm I don't have to fast anymore.

I don't have to be so strict anymore, but hopefully it's it's a way of getting us to a rhythm that sticks.

Yes.

Right.

Which I also think the gospel, um, which is very long, so we won't read it, but I feel like the gospel all also kind of wakes you up on, you know, this talking about spiritual blindness.

Yeah.

And basically, like even in the practices of Valent, we could be doing many things, but we could be kind of blind in what we're doing.

Right.

And not really seeing with the eyes of faith the deeper layers of what God is asking about.

Right.

And at the core of it was the trying to uh convey how do we see the world.

And are we seeing the things that we need to be seeing, or do we turn a blind eye?

Yeah.

Um, so it's all in there.

So this gospel is um Jesus healing a man that was born blind, right?

Which is very striking.

Um so I know part of what you started off sharing about is um that Jesus was using mud and things of the earth to heal him.

Right.

So maybe that can be kind of our starting place, Father, is um what you're um you're drawing out some beautiful connections to creation and um yeah, and and it's an act of creation.

I I love this detail.

And as I mentioned in the homily, early Christians who would have heard this gospel would have seen the connection in the sense that um even the early church fathers like Saint Arienaeus of Lyon and Saint Augustine talk about this miracle and how it's it it relates back to creation and the Septuagint and uh the Greek and all they they kind of use the same words as you see in Genesis, um, where only God can remake, right?

And so we see, because Jesus could have gone to this blind man and just said, okay, be healed, you can see now.

Maybe uh had his hand over his eyes or something, but no, he he just he does this beautiful thing where he spits on the ground, makes mud, places it on the guy's eyes.

It was a teaching moment for everybody that's sitting around watching, right?

And and especially for the blind man.

Um, but it's it's fascinating in the sense that you see how God takes clay, forms Adam, breathes life into Adam.

In the sense that this blind man now, the same clay, that same dust is placed on this man's eye, and and the Lord is saying, We are remaking you.

Be new, be created, be be be a new creation for the Lord.

See with eyes of faith, see your life differently.

Um, everything you just said is is like halfway through Lent, like that's the hope of what we should be experiencing, right?

Is like this newness that the Lord is forming us in a new way.

Um so it was very beautiful to kind of connect it to like making a new creation out of us.

Like that's what Lent is all about.

Well, only God can make from nothing, right?

Here you have someone who lived his whole life in darkness.

Think about that.

And the man can see now, only God can do that.

But just it was very powerful.

And you know, the mud is not magic, uh, the mud is theology.

I am the one who formed you, I am the one who can remake you.

Um, so there's a whole we I mean, we could spend a whole this whole podcast just talking about that because it's so powerful.

But again, I think that it was a teaching moment for not just the blind man, but all those who are following Jesus.

He must have had a huge following.

Now, there were people maybe around that, oh, let's see what kind of magic trick he does next, or what what does he do now?

But um, hopefully they were like hanging on every word that he had to say and uh really learning from what he was teaching.

Um so yeah.

So good.

And even that the new site, that theme of new site, um, you know, that's what happens with conversion is like the blinders come off and we actually see reality as it is.

Right.

And I know for myself in my own journey, I've had so many deeper conversion moments, and and that's what it feels like.

It feels like, how did I not see this?

You know, it's kind of like a humble, but also like a wow, like I was blind, you know, whether it be from like my behavior or how my thoughts influence, you know, actions or my, you know, understanding of my identity, or just like that theme of blindness and to give have spiritual sight is just so huge in conversion.

It is.

And and that's what I wanted to highlight how this event goes in stages, right?

Um, there were three distinct stages that we can see, and it's it's that journey of faith.

So what happens is the the first stage of after he is healed from blindness, he goes off, right?

And someone asks him about it, and well, he he says, Well, I don't know.

His name is Jesus, and he healed me, right?

So that first step is acknowledging a fact, right?

And and it's I I think that that's the beginning of faith where you're recognizing that something real has occurred in my life.

And you were talking about that.

A lot of people have that first instance of a conversion or a powerful encounter.

Um, and they've experienced God, they've experienced God's mercy.

And so that's the first stage.

And then they ask him again, or and or that the the transformation continues, and you see that that second stage is where the man is saying, Well, it was a prophet.

A prophet healed me.

Um, and this is where he's the person himself is seeing that, oh, wait, there's there's a progress in all this, there's a uh steps to this faith journey that I'm on now.

Um and then finally that that last stage is Lord, I believe.

And then the gospel very beautifully says at the end, it says, the man says, Lord, I believe, and then he went on worshiping in Jesus.

Um such beautiful like transition moments, but also of like I think deepening a relationship, you know, where it comes from like the guy, you know, Jesus who his name is Jesus, that's all I know.

And then, like, okay, well, he must be important like a prophet.

Yeah.

And then he goes to like encountering relationship with Christ.

Encountering, that's the last part of it and worshiping him and and becoming a disciple.

Even the the Pharisees say, Well, you're his disciple now.

Um, and it's this idea that that I have been remade or I have been transformed in the Lord.

Yeah.

The full surrender of self, right?

Which is what the Pharisees were struggling with.

Yeah.

And I think about that, I think about this story too.

And it's like the man was born blind, and then now he can see.

And then his like people are testifying, even his parents saying, like, I don't know what happened, but he was born blind and now he can see.

Yeah.

You know, and for I mean, the hardness of heart that the Pharisees must have had to just not want to see the glory of God before them, you know.

And I think these were good people.

These were people who wanted to be faithful to the Lord, who practiced the faith, who knew the scriptures well.

Um, but they were blind.

Yeah.

They get a bad rap sometimes, but the Pharisees, you know, there's a lot to be modeled after the way that they lived, their faithfulness and their discipline and dedication to to faith, but that that blindness.

Well, closing your heart, right?

Closing your heart, not being able to see right in front of you this beauty, this not being able to see the Messiah, not being able to see Jesus.

How many were perhaps uh Pharisees or uh very religious people who were convinced or who who saw Jesus for who they were, they were able to open their hearts and and allow that to to be part of their life.

We gotta wonder.

Um but real blindness, uh, because they would have been considered blind, right?

Blind to to um to Jesus.

But I think modern day the real blindness is spiritual pride.

I don't need anybody, I don't need anything, I can figure this out on my own.

I'm I'm okay.

I I haven't really killed anyone.

I don't, I'm a good person.

I don't, I don't really need change, I don't need conversion.

I don't may not need to go to confession.

I can confess to the big man upstairs by myself.

And there's that spiritual pride that that can really cause blindness.

Yeah.

So that's kind of what it sounds like like today, like the Pharisee today, kind of that would be like the thoughts or like the things that would be associated with spiritual pride.

Yeah, because I think that spiritual pride is one of the most dangerous uh forms of blindness because it can be confused as um, it can feel almost like wisdom.

Right.

And uh that's where it becomes dangerous and not having that attitude or the the disposition to be completely open to the will of the Father.

Again, we go back to we we talk about this all the time about controlling the situation, controlling my life, controlling every aspect, even the way that I worship, even the way that I follow the Lord, or or every aspect of my life uh it needs to be under my control.

Um again, the Pharisees were not evil people, they were people who stopped being surprised by God.

And uh they were domesticated uh to the sacred, but they just lost that real openness to encounter God in a different way.

Rigid.

And that's the danger.

We can be very rigid and we can miss the boat.

Well, you said something that was very powerful there, which is we can um stop being surprised by God.

Yeah when we think like, oh no, we know how he works, like we know what's going on, or he would never I don't know, to kind of like box God in um out of fear and control.

And and like, yeah, the Lord wants to surprise us like all the time.

If we have the open heart to see him at work, like he's gonna continue to surprise us and renew us and and draw us deeper.

And I think sometimes even when we have like um if we grow up Catholic and we're like uh cradle Catholic, sometimes we can think like, oh well, I know everything.

Right.

Like I've already I did a retreat in high school, like I'm good.

Where it's like, well, you're 40 years old.

You might be, you might need due for another retreat, you know?

Yeah.

Um, but I think that is a like a tendency sometimes when we when we are cradle Catholic to have like this kind of like this blindness of thinking, like, oh no, like I've done my C C D stuff or like I did my confirmation when I was younger.

But really, um, Lent is a great time to be able to step back and be like, it's not like a graduation.

It's not like, you know, now I have a graduated and I'm amazing and I've, you know, have all I need.

But that being open to allow the Lord to surprise us draws deeper and deeper.

I think that that's a good question to ask.

Ask yourself today, uh, where or where in your life have you stopped allowing or allowed uh where have you stopped being surprised by God?

I think that's a good question to ask.

Where have you gotten so comfortable with your faith that um you've stopped letting faith change you?

And so those are all very good questions.

And it it goes, it ties it all back to spiritual blindness, right?

Wanting to see what I want to see, not seeing what I need to see or what's being apparent or what the Lord is trying to reveal to me, and I don't want to see that, right?

Because the world, we can see it through two lenses.

We could see it through natural sight, or I could see the world for what it is.

It's beautiful for pleasure, for success, for all the achievements that you can accomplish, and you can see it that way.

And you that's how you train your life, like that's how you see the world.

But that if if that's the way, that's the lens that you see the world, it can become very fragile and it can change at the drop of a hat.

Um, where you go from circumstance to circumstance, where I see this okay, I see a problem here, and so your whole attitude changes, your disposition changes, though your uh you could, but if you see the world through faith, you see it completely different.

Yeah.

And it makes me think about how through deeper and deeper conversion that we're supposed to, it's we're supposed to experience that.

And I think some people are like afraid of that.

Where it's like an ongoing conversion is what we believe as Catholics, that that's part of the, you know, following Jesus is it never gets boring.

It never gets old and there's always more to go.

Yeah.

Um, but part of it is that we are given new sight over and over again.

And again, I I think it's to see reality, you know, to see as God has created things to be and not through our own kind of broken lens, but to be able to see um reality as it is before us and how um yeah, the blinders come off.

And I just think about just so many times of having that own my own like thought about that of like, gosh, I was so blind, you know, but being able to be like, Thank you, Jesus, for letting me see real like to live more in reality, to be present, to see you at work.

Um well, think about this.

Think think about this.

If comfort is your God, right?

And that's how I see the world, and comfort is my God, then I will do everything not to lose comfort.

Yeah.

Or my fear is that at any moment that's all could be gone.

Because that's what you ha hang your hat on.

Um, and that's not freedom, right?

Not at all.

It's and it's also like very small, like short-sighted and um well, I think uh I know what you're trying to say, like a very sophisticated cage.

Yes, exactly.

Very small making of your own making.

But what God has in store is so much grander, right?

Yeah, but we have to trust and let go and and let him.

And I think about even like the joy of the man born blind receiving a sight.

Like I feel like I've I've tasted that in my own journey of like the joy that overcomes, like the healing that happens and being given a new chance to see things.

Like, I just think of like what did this guy do?

You know, probably like ran through the streets like looking around and being so amazed at like God's wonder and goodness and imagine that that that is has to be such a beautiful thing.

Yeah.

For people that you see, I don't know if you've ever seen those little videos on uh Instagram or I don't know, X that they put for a baby uh glasses for the first time and fidgeting and crying and super upset, and then they put the glasses on, and the little kid is just like and then he could see the mom and is smiling, and it's just like one of the most heartwarming, it's like the most beautiful thing.

And imagine this man uh who all of a sudden can now see.

And how can how can that translate into the beauty of faith?

Right where God says, I want you to see, I want you to see things differently.

I want you to change your life in such a way that, yes, I'm trying to put in front of you things that you need to see that may be painful, uncomfortable, inconvenient, but hopefully it's something that's gonna free you.

That it's gonna be that uncomfortable moment, then fidgeting in before you put on those glasses, and then the glasses is like, oh, I can taste freedom.

I know what this other side looks like.

I love that.

That's beautiful.

And and trusting that that's what Jesus is about.

Right.

Not about anything and what he wants for you goodness and love and tenderness, and that's what God wants.

A lot of times we we think God as being this judge and rigid and uh very strict and beating us over the head.

I think sometimes we need it, but more times than not, it's if you only knew my love, then you would want to follow my commandments.

You would want to follow uh what I'm asking of you.

If you only experienced my love.

And I think that that's where um taking off the blinders, like you said, uh that that real encounter with goodness and love and beauty that that shapes you into something extraordinary.

So good.

Right?

Yeah, and Father, and your homily, it was really great how you kind of pulled it all together, looking at prayer fasting and almsgiving as tools that clear our vision.

Yeah.

I don't know if you'd like to speak a little bit more into that.

Yeah, I think that that's why one of the things that Lent is is so good because we have to constantly be thinking about am I praying?

Am I fasting?

Am I doing almsgiving?

Praying really, if you want a clear mind, you want clear clarity in your life, pray.

Sit with the Lord, uh, spend the time, don't let the busyness of life, don't let the schedule, don't let the text messages or the dinging of this and I got to answer that.

Really, really, truly spend some quality time.

And yeah, if your mind is crazy and it's just all over the place, sit for like five minutes and try to resolve all the situations.

I got to do this, I got to do that, okay, I'll do that later.

And then when you're in prayer and it's coming to you, you say, All right, I already discussed that at the beginning of this session.

I'm gonna talk, I'm gonna think about that later.

Right now it's prayer time.

And you train, you start to train your brain to stay in prayer.

So prayer really allows for that moment for clarity.

Prayer reorients that gaze uh away from the mirror and towards God.

Because we're very good at navel gazing and constantly it's the me, me, me, me, me.

And then fasting.

Why is fasting important?

Again, fasting is important because it should allow me to see that I have to detach from things, that things only hold me down.

Things are are are not allowing me to really grow and to be free.

Again, the whole freedom of of living uh the Christian life.

But fasting teaching teaches us that we need something more than what the world provides.

And to really order things of the world, reorder in their right place and not taking more or that they should from us.

Yeah.

And then almsgiving, if we're practicing almsgiving, and and there's so many ways to do that, um helps us to remind us that I need to see my brother and sister not as a competitor, not as an obstacle, not as a burden, but as this is really truly my brother, this is my sister, and I'm called to help.

And we're called as uh a parish, as a community, to live on mission.

Something I heard this weekend, uh, this past Saturday, I went to the funeral of Deacon O'Malley and Cardinal Sean O'Malley, which is that's his first cousin, so he celebrated the Mass.

But he said something in the homily that was so beautiful.

He said that we have to learn the language of evangelization, or we have to learn the language of uh of God, right?

We have to learn that language.

Well, how do you learn a language?

Like, say let's you learn English or you learn Spanish or you learn whatever language, the best way to learn language is immersion.

Right.

So you go and you live with that community, you spend time with it, you struggle.

And and and and he was trying what he the point he was trying to say is that if we're trying to learn the language of love, the language of Christ, the language of uh of discipleship, well, you learn that in community.

You learn that with other people who are walking that walk and who are walking uh to um to perfect themselves in the best way that they can to reach heaven, right?

That's beautiful.

And it's through discipleship.

But and that's that's the beauty of land.

That's the that's why prayer, fasting, and almsgiving is so important.

Yeah, and those are good things to be able to check in and rework because we're halfway done.

So there's there's room to grow and room to kind of get back on the path if you've fallen off pretty good.

Um, and Father, one of the other things that come to mind in your homily that I wanted to touch on before we um wrap up is you're kind of um talking about how really that spiritual blindness kind of should be more feared than physical blindness.

You know, um could you share a little bit more about that?

Because I I thought about that and I was like, do I really I think I I fear physical blindness more than spiritual blindness?

Like, because I think about like if I mean that would be such a hard cross to bear, but then like it's it's off if that seems more scary than being physic or spiritually blind.

Right.

And if that's a beautiful point that you're making, because if you think about it, the blind man's first words were not thank you, right?

That's on the the material world, right?

The the blind man's first words is Lord, I believe.

So that's the destination.

It's what you're talking about.

It's it's the fear of losing heaven, or it's the fear of being separated from his love.

Or imagine being so blind that you have no relationship with God.

And we have people all around, walking every day, all around.

No judgment, but it is what it is.

And hopefully they'll be able to get to a place where they see that they're blind and they want to have that that that 2020 vision of being able to see Christ as who he is, our our Messiah, our redeemer.

Um, but it's gotta be the destination, right?

And and hopefully we get to a place where it's not about spiritual blindness, it's not about, it's not even about the danger of physical blindness.

It's it's being separated from God and not being able to see all that God wants to give us.

I think it's a beautiful thing to pray, to be able to ask the Lord, like, Lord, I don't like open my eyes to just give him permission to do the the the opening of the eyes that's needed.

Yeah, I would say closing, you know, just closing this podcast for today, I would say do the hard lifting.

If you fell off the wagon, get back on track.

Fourth week of of Lent.

Next week we're going into the fifth week.

There's still time.

Prayer, fasting, almsgiving.

It's all there to purify you, to to shape you into the disciple that God is calling you to do so that you could see those areas in your life that you need to change.

And let them be healed so that you could be free.

So you could be free.

There's there's the Lord is trying to show you there's that person you need to forgive, there's that that that incident that you need to heal from, there's that uh relationship that is not that's not working.

And so there's all of these things that the Lord is really showing us.

It's right there.

Don't turn a blind eye to it.

Yeah.

Let the Lord heal it.

Let the Lord heal it.

Amen.

Okay.

So have a great week, everyone.

Thank you, Father.

Beautiful podcast.

Thanks, Fasha.

We'll see you next week.