Every Tuesday, Fr. Dan has the staff start our meetings by reading the gospel for the upcoming weekend. We read it three times. The first time, we are to just repeat a word or phrase that spoke to us. The second time, we are invited to respond openly about what we think of the reading. The third time, we are invited to reflect in silence as we let the reflections and thoughts settle in our hearts. This method of reading and reflecting is called lectio divina and I have included a video from Ascension Press if you would like to know more about how you can do this during your personal prayer time!  

The last time we were able to meet together for an in-person staff meeting, we read John’s gospel of the Man Born Blind. As soon as the familiar gospel story began, I had a memory of my now 17 year old son when he was in elementary school. He had a hard time sitting still and would often seem to be off in another world during Mass. As this particular gospel passage was being proclaimed, I remember him reaching up to me and grabbing me urgently by the arm to come down to hear him. I leaned down thinking he was going to beg to go to the bathroom however instead he exclaimed: MOM. Jesus spit on the ground, made mud, wiped it in that guy’s eyes and he didn’t get in trouble?! It’s so gross and so cool. Can I do that when we get home? Children pick-up such peculiar things! But as quick as this sweet memory popped up, my head was suddenly clouded by another phrase that would not stop coming to me over and over: Night is coming when no one can work. (John 9:4) I tried to ignore it in the face of the quickly changing virus information we had been hearing but would we really face a time when no one would be able to work? Why wouldn’t this phrase leave me alone? It sounded so ominous and scary and I looked around the table to see if anyone else was quietly freaking out like me. Did anyone else feel this phrase burning a hole in their heart?
 We are a nation built on doing, succeeding, working, and living the American dream. The blind spots we have acquired to keep us moving forward do not keep us from seeing what is ahead...like a city horse drawing a carriage, those blinders are meant to keep out what is going on around us so we can stay focused on moving into the future and not living in the present reality. And let’s face it: the present reality is scary. Maybe we are just like that city horse, we have been scared so long that we are numb to the reality of having to do our duty and live our purpose. We thoughtlessly put on the blinders and go about the day unaware of how the world is affecting us because it is too painful or we might mess it up. Jesus declared the man’s blindness as a gift so that God might be revealed. Am I being called to reveal God in my own life? The opening of the blind man’s eyes turned the night into day. How many times had this man suffered? Had others smeared things on his eyes in jest and forced him to find water to wash? What did the man think and feel as Jesus smeared mud on his eyes…was he standing in fear or perhaps just numb resolution to his fate in life?
Almost a month ago now, I was sitting in a restaurant talking to a friend and thinking, something is different…something is changing. We were both trying to figure out if we should really be there in the restaurant. During that bizarre “last supper,” in the middle of Richmond, I realized night IS coming. People will lose their jobs. People will lose their security. People will live in fear. The rabbit holes since then have become many and deep!! DEEP BREATH. Relax. Here’s the GOOD NEWS.
Instead of throwing on the blinders, am I willing to feel Jesus gazing on me in the chaos? Take a moment and stand directly at the foot of the cross and look up into the eyes of Christ. Really see his eyes and hear his labored breathing. Am I willing to let him, in this moment of vulnerability, change my vision and wake me up to a new lived reality? Will I be able to go wash my eyes of the way things used to be and am I willing to be sent to tell my story of enlightenment during this time of uncertainty? God’s works are revealed in each of us if we choose to live in the light of truth.
 
Psalm 23: 1-4 The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. In green pastures he makes me lie down; to still waters he leads me; he restores my soul. He guides me along right paths for the sake of his name. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me.