Sunday 19 March 2023 – IV of the season of Lent

+ From the Gospel according to John ( 9, 1 – 41)

At that time, Jesus passing by saw a man blind from birth and his disciples asked him: “Rabbi, who sinned, he or his parents, because he was born blind?”. Jesus replied: «Neither he nor his parents sinned, but it is so that the works of God may be manifested in him. We must do the works of him who sent me while it is day; then comes the night, when no one can act. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Having said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with his saliva, spread the mud on the eyes of the blind man and said to him: “Go wash yourself in the pool of Sìloe”, which means “Sent”. He went, washed and came back seeing us.
Then the neighbors and those who had seen him before, because he was a beggar, said: “Isn’t he the one who was sitting and begging?”. Some said, “It’s him”; others said: «No, but he is someone who looks like him». And he said, “It’s me!” So they asked him, “How were your eyes opened?” He replied: “The man whose name is Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes and said to me: ‘Go to Sìloe and wash there!’ I went, I washed and I acquired my sight». They said to him, “Where is this man?” He replied, “I don’t know.”
They led the one who had been blind to the Pharisees: it was a Saturday, the day Jesus had made mud and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees also asked him again how he got his sight. And he said to them: «He put mud on my eyes, I washed and I can see». Then some of the Pharisees said, “This man does not come from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath.” Others instead said: “How can a sinner perform signs of this kind?”. And there was dissent between them. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He replied, “He IS a prophet!” But the Jews did not believe him that he had been blind and that he had received his sight, until they called the parents of the one who had recovered his sight. And they questioned them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How come he sees us now?” His parents replied: “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind; but how he sees us now we do not know, and who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him: he’s old, he’ll talk about himself». This his parents said, because they were afraid of the Jews; in fact the Jews had already established that, if anyone recognized him as the Christ, he could be expelled from the synagogue. For this reason his parents said: “He’s of age: ask him!”.
So they called again the man who had been blind and said to him: «Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” He replied: «Whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I know: I was blind and now I can see.” So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them: «I have already told you and you have not listened; why do you want to hear it again? Do you perhaps also want to become his disciples?” They insulted him and said: «You are his disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses; but we don’t know where he is from.’ The man answered them: «This is precisely what is astonishing: that you do not know where he is from, and yet he has opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but that if one honors God and does his will, he listens to him. Since the world began, it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If he didn’t come from God, he couldn’t have done anything.’ They replied to him: “You were born entirely in sins and do you teach us?”. And they kicked him out.
Jesus knew that they had thrown him out; when he found him, he said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of man?” He replied: “And who is he, Lord, why do I believe in him?” Jesus said to him: “You have seen him: he is the one who speaks to you”. And he said, “I believe, Lord!” And he prostrated himself before him. Jesus then said: “It is for a judgment that I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may go blind”. Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these words and said to him, “Are we blind too?” Jesus answered them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say: “We see”, your sin remains”.
Word of the Lord.