I recently had the experience (perhaps you can relate to it!) of someone looking right through me towards another person. It was in a crowded room and I saw someone waving at me, at least that’s what I thought. So I waved back with a big goofy smile on my face since I wasn’t exactly sure why they were so happy to see me. Then I saw their confusion as they noticed what I was doing and we both realized I was not the target of their greeting. I looked behind me and their friends were happily waving back and heading to re-unite with their pals. The only thing in their way was a very embarrassed and mortified me! If you been in this situation before, you know it’s not a great feeling, even when it is nothing more than an accident with no mean-spiritedness involved.
Humans need to be seen and acknowledged in order to be healthy and happy. This sort of seeing is more than what happens physically with our eyeballs; it is learning to see as God sees, not simply by appearances but deeper, on the level of the heart. It is very possible to look at someone, perhaps day after day but never really see them. It is a curious detail in the gospel that after the blind man was cured, he was called before the pharisees. Even though they had walked past him day after day, they still weren’t sure if this was him until they asked his parents to confirm his identity; they never bothered to pay attention to him as a person. This indifference to the people around us is not limited to the religious leaders of Jesus’ time. We too easily fall into the same problem.
This week, I was reading an article on the escalating mental health crisis in young people as rates of depression, anxiety, and isolation continue to grow and affect children at younger and younger ages. The number-one suggestion for parents and anyone working with youth was simple. Make sure they know they are seen; that they have your undivided attention. Put down your phone and step away from the screen and give your children quality time where they are front and center. This is true for every person we interact with but especially for our young people, who need to be acknowledged and valued by the people they love. If they do not, bad things soon follow.
Today’s scriptures remind us to take a moment and look inward at our own spiritual blindspots. We all have them; heck, even our cars have them! These blind spots hide in plain sight in our marriages, our parenting, our work habits, and our personalities. We are often oblivious to the goodness and gifts of God dwelling within us and fail to appreciate His presence in others. Even practicing Christians can be blind to the poverty, injustice, and pain around them. However, Jesus wants to heal this problem, if we allow him to get close enough. We need to give him permission to remove the things that come from it: self-centeredness, greed, anger, hatred, prejudice, jealousy, addiction to evil habits, hardness of heart, or anything else that obscures the image of God in ourselves and others. A famous biblical scholar named William Barclay had a wonderful, simple prayer that we can make our own, “God our Father, help us see Christ more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly, day by day.”
So what is it that causes our soul’s vision to become blurry, leading to spiritual blindness? Quite simply, it is sin that destroys our sight. Every sin we choose, whether it is large or small, distorts our vision and obscures God. Oftentimes, when we commit some serious sin, we know it right away and we seek forgiveness. However, the small sins can be even more dangerous because we learn to live with them and do not have the same sense of urgency. It is often the small sins that cause us to go spiritually blind, little by little, until we can’t see anymore. These are the everyday ways we choose not to live the gospel. It is those things we tell ourselves aren’t really wrong, those actions we just try not to think about. So, what are the signs of spiritual blindness?
The most obvious is pride. Pride will cause us to judge others, to think that we are better than others, and believe our viewpoint is always correct. Pride makes the mistake of reducing the mysteries of the world into our own clean explanations. The pharisees did this as they looked down on the blind man. They had little use for him because they assumed his blindness was caused by his sins or those of his parents. Judging by appearance and assumption, they ended up being the blind ones, hardening their hearts and missing out on a great miracle that should have brought them joy and hope! When we act out of pride, we too become blind to our own faults, we dismiss others, and lose sight of Christ. Another sign of spiritual blindness is a lack of charity, which causes us to think the worst of others and even ourselves. It often manifests itself in gossip, treating others poorly, or saying unkind words about those we don’t like. The cure is to refocus on the way of life Jesus calls us to live and embrace the fact that everyone is made in God’s image and likeness. We should ask the Lord to show us what he sees in others, especially those who are most difficult to love. We must humble ourselves as Samuel did in the first reading and let God lead us.
The Church gives us this Lenten season to help us check up on our spiritual vision and ask Jesus to heal any problems that may have developed. By making use of the sacraments often, going to Mass every week, and spending time in prayer, we will ensure that our spiritual sight remains clear. In this way we will be a people of faith, a people who clearly see Christ working in our midst and never judge by appearances!
