4th Sunday of Lent homily by Deacon Ted

not as man sees, but as God sees, because man sees in appearance, but the Lord looks into the heart.

That's the message from today's In the first reading Samuel goes to Jesse's family to find the one to be anointed.

and his first son comes up and Samuel thinks, Iliad, surely by his appearance this is the one that God's going to anoint.

But God says to Samuel, do not judge from appearance or from his lofty stature because I have rejected him.

The blind man didn't see as man sees.

He couldn't see at all.

He couldn't see the appearance of men.

He couldn't see how they dressed, how they acted, the look on their face.

He couldn't see anything.

He had to rely on his hearing to know whether he trusted somebody.

And here's Jesus.

He listens to Jesus and he trusts him.

and he lets him rub something on his face, on his eyes.

That's trust.

Then Jesus says, go wash in the pool of Siloam.

And he goes.

And he trusts.

And he comes back able to see.

Then he goes before the Pharisees and he still trusts in Jesus.

He doesn't even know it's Jesus.

But he trusts in the man who opened his eyes.

And he tells the Pharisees, I believe he is a prophet.

many throw them out.

See, the Pharisees, they didn't see as God sees.

They didn't even see what God knows.

They couldn't believe that a man born blind could have his sight restored.

The man standing right in front of them, they couldn't believe it.

And they couldn't go to their scriptures and find anything that explained it.

They were at a loss.

So what do they do?

What do you do when your back's against the wall and you can't explain something?

Go on the offensive.

and they started to attack Jesus and his religiosity because he cured the man on the Sabbath and we all know you're not supposed to work on the Sabbath

So what do they do?

So they convene a hearing.

They listen to the people.

They talk to the man.

They don't believe the man.

They don't believe the people.

So they call his parents.

And they've dragged them in before them.

And then they called man back again.

I ask you this question to consider who is working on the Sabbath?

Jesus?

Or the Pharisees who are convening the hearing and calling witnesses before them?

The law says you cannot do any work on the Sabbath

Jesus spit, rubbed some dirt on the guy's eye.

Does that work?

Besides the no work on the Sabbath, there's a second part of that law.

And that is, it is a day to give honor, worship, and praise to God.

When we do not know who God is, we don't know how to give Him honor, worship and praise.

And I think the Pharisees didn't really know who Jesus was and who God was, or they couldn't identify the works of God in the blind man.

So they just relied on what was under law, which said you can't work.

But you know what?

You and I know.

We know what gives honor, praise, and glory to God because we're here on Sunday, the new Sabbath, we're probably participating in this mass.

We are giving honor, worship, glory, and praise to our God.

And we know that this is right because

We're Catholic.

And I said, so...

Just Catholics?

No?

No, but listen to my justification.

We have been given the grace of God through the sacrament.

We've been baptized.

We've been confirmed.

We received the Eucharist.

And each one of those sacraments fills us with the grace of God.

Go wash in the pool of Siloam prefigures the baptism which cleanses us and opens our eyes so we're able to see God and to come to know him.

The anointing in Samuel of David is a prefiguration of confirmation.

When the spirit is called down upon you, hands are laid upon you,

and oil seals in the spirit within you.

In the Eucharist, the most intimate form of instruction occurs.

Because we receive the Body and Blood of our Lord within us.

And He grants us that grace from within us.

Close to our heart, close to our soul.

And so yes, we know that this mass brings glory, honor, and praise to God.

Today is later, Laetare Sunday.

Pink, you only see this color twice a year in divestments.

gaudete Sunday, which occurs in Advent, and Laetare Sunday, which occurs in Lent.

And this means rejoice!

Rejoice!

You say how can we rejoice?

It's Lent!

And that's exactly why the church in its infinite wisdom says, take a day, take a breath, take an knee You've been working real hard.

You've been sacrificing.

You've been giving alms.

You've been doing prayer.

You've been fasting.

Take a day, rejoice.

We've got three more weeks left, like Father said.

We're more than halfway through.

Rejoice and be glad.

And you say, well, how do we know that God wants us to rejoice on this day?

How do we know how to rejoice?

And so I say to you,

You know God.

You know what He likes.

You know who He is.

And so when He says rejoice, you're going to rejoice.

You know why?

Because you know Him.

And He loves you.