By Fr. Dennis Chriszt, C.PP.S.
This little light of mine,
I’m gonna let it shine!
This little light of mine,
I’m gonna let it shine!
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!
Today we celebrate the second scrutiny with those who will receive the Easter sacraments in a few weeks. We also scrutinize our own lives as part of our Lenten journey. Together, we reflect on our own blindness, on the ways we don’t see clearly.
The man born blind in today’s Gospel can’t help himself, and sometimes neither can we. We’re simply unable to see. Samuel, in today’s first reading, can’t see who God is calling because he is seeing with human eyes, not with the eyes of God. God sees what we sometimes just can’t see because of our own weaknesses or because we see with human standards instead of divine ones.
Like the man born blind, we come before the Lord for healing. Like him, our blindness might have nothing to do with who sinned. Like him, we are sent to healing waters. Like him, the healing power of God is before us, even if we don’t recognize it at first. Like him, we are invited to meet, to come to know and to enter into a deeper relationship with the Son of Man. Like him, we are also invited to bear witness to the Son of Man before those who do not see so clearly themselves.
As we pray in today’s scrutiny for those who will soon be joining us at the table of the Lord, where God welcomes sinners and eats with them, we pray not only for those on whom hands will be laid, but also for ourselves, that we might all see more clearly the place of God in our lives and be willing to bear witness to his grace and mercy at work in us. Then we will all be children of the light, with eyes open to the glory of the one who died and was raised.
This little light of mine,
I’m gonna let it shine!
This little light of mine,
I’m gonna let it shine!
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!
Fr. Dennis Chriszt, C.PP.S., is the director of advanced formation for the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. He also directs Precious Blood Parish Missions (pbparishmissions.org).