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DIOCESE OF OR NDO Vol. 81, No. 10
My Sisters and Brothers in Christ: Within the Gospels during the season of Lent, there is a sense of mission, or of being sent. In the Scripture of the fourth Sunday of Lent, Samuel is being sent to find the next king. David is chosen and is sent to lead the na- tion. Jesus ministers to a blind man, whom he asks to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam (which means Sent) and he returns with the ability to see. This man who could now see is sent to proclaim the Good News, even though he finds non-believers, or others who are blind. We too are sent. St. Paul writes to the Ephesians that we are light in the Lord and we should live as children of light. This too is the essence of Jesus' journey. He is sent to us by the Fa- ther. He is sent to proclaim the Good News to us, and we are called to follow Him, but in this follow- ing, we are sent forth. We like Him are on our way to Jerusalem, the symbolic heavenly home. We find, however, a distinction between the knowledge of the journey and the journey of the heart. The blind man who was granted the ability to see had the knowledge of the act of see- ing. It was when he witnessed his faith, began to live his faith, that he also recognized others who could not see and the difficulty of disbelief was a test to his own faith. St. Paul encourages us to live in the light for light produces every kind of goodness and righteous- ness and truth. Light shows all the bad things too. Light brings out the ugliness of degradation and bro- kenness. Jesus shows us the good- ness and the difficulty. On earth, He lived it! He accompanies us, as Pope Francis said, in the ecology of the heart, the cleansing of our mind, body and spirit so that the light can shine forth. Pope Francis says, "We struggle to distinguish the voice of the Lord speaking to us, the voice of conscience, the voice of goodness ... Jesus invites us to listen to what matters, to what is important, to the essen- tial." We are challenged both to see and to be light for others. In our world today, there is much polariza- tion. No one is at fault and yet it seems to always be the fault of someone else for the pain and suffering inflicted upon the sacred body of Christ. The effect of the information about the coronavirus divides our communi- ties. Our reaction may not always be that of being the light; rather, our own fear may cause divisive- ness and a retreat from our Lenten journey. For example, if we are with a group of people, and someone sneezes, our normal reaction would be to say, "God bless you!" Recently, if a person sitting near us during the celebration of Mass happens to sneeze, we wish to back away from the individual instead of giving him/her a blessing. God's light does not shine on those who shine with their own light," Pope Francis reminds us. "It is always very tempting to confuse God's light with the lights of the world." God's light is manifested in humble love and it shines forth on those who are prepared to accept it. We are reminded that we are be- ing sent during this Lenten season. Like the blind man, we are sent to proclaim our faith, even knowing the disbelief of others. We are in- vited now - this very minute - to pray for each other, to see the pres- ence of Jesus within the people im-
ou were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light pro- duces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. - Eph 5:8-14
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We are challenged both to see and to be light for others
Bishop John Noonan
mediately surrounding us, our own family, on the street when we take a walk, in the classroom with other students, in the church where we worship. We are called to bless each one of them and to lead them into God's light; to embrace them as Je- sus embraces us from the Cross. We are sent in the light to be light - to refrain from doing things which take our focus away from God. We are fed in the Eucharist and then sent to clothe each other with the core of our being, and not mourn what we have given. When our heart is readied to ac- cept His inimitable love, we are sent to walk with Jesus to Jerusalem.
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God's light is manifested in humble love and it shines forth on those who are prepared to accept it.
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