1 Samuel 16.1b,6-7,10-13a | Ephesians 5.8-14 | John 9.1-41

Today we begin with Mother Church the fourth week of Lent, committed to our personal, family, and community conversion, in view of the celebration of the solemnity of Easter, the resurrection of Jesus.

Today the evangelist John speaks to us of the healing of the beggar blind from birth on a Sabbath, and his faith in Jesus as the Son of Man.

In short, Jesus healed the beggar blind from birth by spitting on the ground and making mud with His saliva. It is a reference to creation, in which the Creator formed man from clay. Deformed by sin, Jesus reforms man through His death and resurrection, destroying sin on the Cross.

Jesus presented Himself as the light of the world, and said that evil served so that the works of God might be manifested in favor of the suffering. That is, human needs are an opportune occasion for God to be glorified by the practice of good in love.

The Pharisees argued with the beggar who had been healed of his blindness. Some claimed that Jesus did not come from God because he did not keep the Sabbath, while others said that a sinner could not perform such signs. The Pharisees were a group of Jews who radically observed the Law of Moses, condemning Jews who were not as radical as they were.

In order to keep the Sabbath, according to the third commandment of the Law of Moses, the Pharisees condemned any and all activity that was not provided for in the Law. Not being a Pharisee, Jesus restored the original meaning of the Sabbath Law: to glorify God by redeeming and saving life. This attitude generated a deadly hatred in the Pharisees.

The Pharisees tried to understand how the beggar had ceased to be blind, and they went to ask his parents. Out of fear of the Jewish authorities - who threatened to expel from the community anyone who declared that Jesus was the Messiah - his parents refused to answer the Pharisees.

Finally the beggar who had been healed of his blindness was expelled from the community because they said he was a disciple of Jesus, not of Moses.

When they had the opportunity to meet again, the beggar who had been healed of his blindness declared his faith in Jesus as the Son of Man, prostrating himself before Him. The expression "Son of Man" is inspired by the prophecy of Daniel (cf. 7.13-14) and signifies the humanity and divinity of the Messiah, the savior.

Jesus concluded by stating that blindness was not seeing one's own sins and rejecting the Son of Man.

As time passed, the animosity of the Pharisees and the Jewish authorities towards Jesus increased, which would lead to His condemnation and crucifixion.

In this Lenten season, let us have the courage to admit our spiritual blindness, our uncomfortable condition as sinners, and declare that Jesus is the Son of Man, the Messiah, the savior, who reformed in us everything that sin deformed, individually and collectively.

With Jesus, let us learn to patiently endure the persecution of our adversaries, without losing conviction and dynamism.

Today, the author of the first book of Samuel speaks to us about the anointing of David, the son of Jesse, the shepherd, the future king of Israel, around 1000 BC.

Following human criteria and judging by appearances, the prophet and priest Samuel considered anointing other sons of Jesse, but the Lord, who saw the heart, told Samuel that only one of them was His chosen one to succeed King Saul.

When Jesse brought David into Samuel's presence, the Lord confirmed that he was His chosen one. Then the prophet and priest anointed David with oil, empowering him with the spirit of the Lord.

In this Lenten season, like Samuel, let us allow the Lord to purify our vision, so that we may see beyond human criteria and appearances, so that we may perceive the hearts of people. As Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said in his work "The Little Prince," let us remember that "one sees clearly only with the heart; what is essential is invisible to the eyes."

Today, the apostle Paul speaks to us in his letter to the Ephesians about the passage from the works of darkness to the fruits of light.

The apostle said that Christians were light in the Lord and that they should live as children of light, discerning what pleases the Lord and unmasking the darkness.

Paul said that the light should reveal everything that was condemnable.

In this Lenten season, let us be good, just, and true, awakening from the sleep of sin and death, so that Christ may shine in us.

Let us allow ourselves to be illuminated by Christ, decisively abandoning the darkness that blinds us and hinders us from advancing as human beings and children of God.