baptism and blindness
"So the man went off and washed, and came back able to see." —John 9:7
Three weeks from today will be Easter Sunday. On this most holy day, in every Catholic Church throughout the world, the Lord will call us to renew our baptismal promises by renouncing Satan and professing our faith in God the Father, Son, and Spirit. The Lord is not calling us to merely rerun our professions of faith from past years. He is challenging us to profess and live a stronger faith than ever before. We have had another year of living in His love. Therefore, we should know Him better, love Him more deeply, believe in Him more strongly, and be ready to profess a stronger faith this Easter.
However, many of us have let ourselves be blinded by the god of the present age (2 Cor 4:4). Although we've spent another year with the Lord, we've been blind to His constant love. We desperately need the Lord to heal our blindness. When we see the light, we'll see Jesus loving us. In the light of His love, we'll believe in Him as never before (Jn 9:38-39). Then we will be ready to celebrate the Easter Vigil, proclaim Jesus our Light and Love, renew our baptismal promises, and be "light in the Lord" (Eph 5:8).
Prayer: Father, heal me of spiritual blindness through my Lenten Confession(s).
Promise: "Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart." —1 Sm 16:7
Praise: Praise Jesus, the Living God, Who was, Who is, and Who will be forever!
Reference: (For a related teaching, order our tape Spiritual Blindness on audio AV 65-1 or video V-65.)
Rescript: †Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, XXX 11, 2011
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