Open Our Eyes

Open Our Eyes
March 10, 2024    4th Sunday Lent - 2nd Scrutiny
by Dcn. Bob Bonomi        

Close your eyes.  Keep them closed.

Have you ever wondered about what it might be like to be born blind? Listen closely.  What do you hear?  Can you picture in your mind what is going on around you?  If this were the 9:30 crying babies Mass you might have imagined that you are in a nursery with of dozens of babies surrounding you.

(Keep your eyes closed.)  Even if you cannot focus on anything and are considered legally blind, you might still be able to discern light and dark, shapes and movement.  A priest friend of mine has been losing more and more of his eyesight for the last several years told me recently that he can no longer recognize anyone a few feet away from him, but knows who and what things are because of the sound of their voice or the position or movement of objects in front of him.

Now, imagine that you are the blind man alongside the road in today’s Gospel.  You hear the noise of the crowd, but you probably have no idea of what is going on or who is there – at first.  Then you hear, probably faintly at first, a name.

Jesus.  Jesus.  Jesus is coming.

Even those who are losing or have lost their eyesight most likely can still imagine what things might look like.  But what if you had never seen ANYTHING ever before?  How can someone recognize something that’s “beyond our senses” without the help of someone who can help us understand what we cannot see?  How do you describe “blue” to someone who has never seen color?  Or “clouds” to someone who cannot see the shadows cast by a blocked sun?

And so, I wonder what the man born blind thought when his eyes were opened by Jesus for the first time?  What are the images that are coming to YOUR mind right now?

You can open your eyes now.  All four Gospels have a story of Jesus healing the blind.  Luke’s version has the blind man, upon hearing that it is Jesus coming up the road, crying out to him, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.”  Matthew’s version has two blind men calling out to him; Mark’s version even gives the man a name:  Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus.

But John’s version begins with a very important point – the man in this story was blind from birth. For Jews, blindness was more than just a physical ailment.  They believed that physical or other infirmities were linked to sin and if you suffered from blindness or other affliction it must be because you or your parents had sinned. Since it would be pretty difficult for him to have done something BEFORE he was born, it would seem obvious that the man’s PARENTS must have done something particularly wicked. It would be natural for his disciples to ask, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

I wonder, what did the man born blind think?  Did he accuse his parents of doing something evil that caused him to be born blind? Or was it his grandparents?  Did he think there was something “wrong” with him spiritually, since he must have been rejected by God because he was born blind?  Whose fault was it, anyway?

That is why today’s Gospel, the 2nd Scrutiny is especially significant to those candidates and elect seeking entry into the Church this Easter, to those returning from the Men’s ACTS retreat this weekend – to anyone who questions “why do bad things happen to good people?”

Physically, we are all born blind.  It takes time for our vision to develop.  At first, everything is blurry, like a camera that’s out of focus.  It takes about a week before a baby begins to learn how to see, and then it’s only objects within a foot or so of its face – which just so happens to be about the distance between a loving mother and her nursing child.  It takes about 6 months before a child can see with clarity at a distance.

Understanding what they see, however, takes a lifetime.  It is said that we are born with only two innate fears – the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises.  The rest are learned responses.  (By the way, it’s not until they’re about 2 years old before children begin to do dangerous things without encouragement, especially when they’re told not to.)

Just as we are born physically blind, we are also born spiritually blind. And just as we are born with an innate sense of fear for falling and loud noises, we are born with an innate spiritual longing for God.  But like learning to see with our eyes, it takes time for us to learn how to see with our hearts.  

It can be challenging to overcome our spiritual blindness, and not just because our parents were evil or we are evil, but because there are many outside forces at work to keep us from God.  God wants us to see, to be able to draw close to Him.  And so in today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches us to see spiritually with our hearts through the physical healing of a man born blind.  

Jesus answered, "Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him."

Jesus begins simple enough – he points out to his disciples that the evils that we experience in life are not because WE are evil, but often it is in how we deal with the evils we encounter that we can make the works of God visible to others.  Physical blindness is temporary and limited to the short time we are on Earth; but we must overcome our spiritual blindness if we are to be able to “see” the Glory of God for eternity.  We also see that re-enforced in the Acts of the Apostles, when St. Paul is commissioned by Jesus to remove the spiritual blindness of others by telling him:

I shall deliver you from this people and from the Gentiles to whom I send you, to open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may obtain forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been consecrated by faith in me.’  (Acts 26:17)

So Jesus begins with “healing” the physical blindness of the man born blind.  Note that the man doesn’t ask to be healed.  Why? Maybe it was because he didn’t think he was worthy to be healed; after all, he was born blind and like most Jews he probably believed that he didn’t deserve to be healed.  Like many of us today.

But he must have had some hope – some spiritual desire – in his heart since he followed Jesus’ directions and allowed mud made from spit to be put upon his eyes, and then allowed himself to be led – remember, as yet he still couldn’t see – to the Pool of Siloam to wash.  He had some faith, without even fully understanding what he believed.  He washes at the Pool of Siloam, and the Church sees that washing as symbolic of the waters of Baptism and the beginning of his faith journey, just as our baptism is a beginning step in ours.  And he experiences God’s mercy through both a physical AND a spiritual healing.

Now, he didn’t know who Jesus was, at first.   He testifies before the Pharisees as to what he experienced, and then he questions them about how this man Jesus could do what he did for him if Jesus was a sinner, but the Pharisees cannot answer him.  They reject his testimony and throw him out of the synagogue.  But the eyes of his heart have been opened and so, when Jesus seeks him out, he is ready to see Jesus for who he is, the Son of God.

One final thought.  In both this Gospel and last Sunday’s about the woman at the well, after Jesus reveals his divinity through word and action, the eyes of their hearts are opened and the people come to believe in him.  The Pharisees however, whose physical eyes are open, refuse to see the wonders of God at work around them.  And so we must ask ourselves – do we close our eyes to God at work in our lives?  Are we blind to God and the wonders of His mercy?  Do we WANT to see?

And so, let us pray:  Open the eyes of our hearts, Lord – we want to see You.

Easter is Near

Easter is Near

March 10, 2024    4th Sunday in Lent - B
by Dcn. Bob Bonomi

If I said, “John 3:16”, most of you would probably know to what I was referring. Even those who are not particularly religious might know. It may be the best known of all quotes from the Gospels, if not the entire Bible.  Up until a few years ago, you’d see it everywhere – on religious signs, on bumper stickers and even etched in the grease paint used to reduce glare under football players’ eyes.

John 3:16.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

Today we celebrate the 4th Sunday of Lent, referred to as Laetáre Sunday – a time to “rejoice”.  Laetáre Sunday, like its counterpart Gaudeté Sunday – “joyful” – during Advent, marks the half-way point in our penitential seasons and the rose-colored vestments that clergy wear are signs of joyous anticipation of the celebration coming in a couple of weeks.   (Remember: Everyone knows / Clergy wear Rose / for only girls are pretty in Pink.)

Which brings us back to John 3:16.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…”  In a sense, Jesus is a double gift.  First, his life is a gift in showing us how to prepare ourselves for eternal life.  Second, his death is a gift in redeeming us from ourselves – our sins. As St. Paul said to the Ephesians, we accept this gift of God’s grace to us through our Faith and belief in Jesus.

And although John 3:16 is a sign of God’s great gift to us of His son Jesus, I think we tend to skip over what Jesus says both before and after his famous quote.  First he reveals to Nicodemus that he must be “lifted up” as the seraph serpent was, alluding to the necessity of his upcoming death on a cross, and he follows it with the sad statement that there will be people who will refuse to believe in him and his message and so condemn themselves to eternal darkness.
It is sad to say, but sometimes we can find darkness - comforting.  I don’t mean the physical darkness that we need in order to sleep, but the spiritual darkness that blocks the desire to reach out for God.  

We can get caught up in the glitz and glamour of the material world, but when that happens, the brightness of those lights fail to illuminate the soul.  There remains a spiritual darkness that leads us away from God.

Nowhere did I find that expressed more clearly than when I looked up the quote by Alfred Lord Tennyson: “ 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”  The sheer number of people who have taken exception to this quote, either because they never overcame the pain of the loss of a loved one through break-up or death, or because they were afraid of ever experiencing that pain, points to Jesus’ sad comment that “people preferred darkness to light”.

And yet, there is hope for all of us.  There is joy in the world today.  Even in a world of neon lights (or I guess that would be LED-colored ones today), true light and joy can still be found, if we would just open ourselves to the healing love that comes from living in the light of Jesus.

One final thought.  Mental health professionals are quick to point out that the #1 illness we face today is loneliness and depression.  Yet older adults – those who have experienced the joys and losses of life – are far less likely to feel depressed, are more likely to remember the joy they experienced in life, and more likely to live with hope for heaven.  And while having a strong faith life is no guarantee that you won’t experience loss or loneliness, there is a guarantee that God will be there for you and with you.  The light of Easter always follows the darkness of Good Friday.

So, as St. Paul said to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! … The Lord is near.” (Phil 4:4-5)   Remember, Easter is just around the corner.

The Transfiguration: A Sign of Hope

The Transfiguration: A Sign of Hope
February 25, 2024    2nd Sunday in Lent - B
by Dcn. Bob Bonomi

I think I’ve shared with you that whenever I hear one of the passages of the Transfiguration, I have an immediate image of standing on Sunset Peak back in Idaho on a cool fall day.  On a clear day, you can see for hundreds of miles from its summit, including into Canada to the north and to Montana and Washington State to the east and west.  It’s a truly breath-taking view, but more on that in a minute.

The Transfiguration story is in all three of the Synoptic Gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke – and we hear one or another of the versions at least 3 times a year, including this second Sunday of Lent and on the Feast of the Transfiguration in August.

Today’s version is fairly brief compared to the other two, but all three contain the basics – Jesus, with Peter, James and John climb a high mountain; the three disciples witness as Jesus changes in appearance before them and has an encounter with Moses and Elijah; they hear God the Father speak; and then it’s over and down the mountain they come.  (Mark includes the interesting aside that they were scared silly.) In all three Gospels the event occurs about a week after Jesus first tells his disciples that he will go to Jerusalem to die.

Often we think this passage is about how we need to transfigure ourselves. Especially during Lent, we work on efforts to become a better person, and so we use the three pillars of Lent – prayer, fasting and almsgiving – to try and improve ourselves. Through our efforts we hope to become more Christ-like.

But that’s really not what the Transfiguration is about.  It’s not about US being transfigured; it’s about witnessing something that gives us hope in the majesty of God.

I want to focus on 3 points of the story:

1.    The four CLIMBED to the top of the mountain.  Jesus might have led them, but they all had to make a considerable effort to get to the top. No ski lifts or gondola rides.  The disciples didn’t know what they were going to encounter once they reached the top, but they knew that Jesus was with them and they trusted that it was worth the effort.

2.    When they reached the summit, they WITNESSED something so extraordinary that it left them in awe.  Jesus changed before them.  Or, more accurately, was TRANSFIGURED.  Jesus was still Jesus, but in that intimate encounter at the top, Peter, James and John experienced an aspect of Jesus that they hadn’t really experienced before, despite all of the miraculous signs he performed – an overwhelming sense of his divinity.

3.    Once the moment had passed, they still had to come down the mountain and RETURN to their day-to-day lives.  They themselves didn’t change and they didn’t know what they were going to face once they returned.  They weren’t even to share the experience with others until the right time - after the Resurrection.

Climb.  Witness.  Return.

Let’s go back to my mountaintop in Idaho for a minute. Sunset Peak is one of the highest mountains in the area, and it is home for radio repeater towers for all sorts of communications.  As such, there is sort of a road that leads up to the top.  You don’t need a 4-wheel drive to get there, but you won’t be racing up it in your family Chevy, either.  If by chance you should meet a car coming from the other direction, well, better be ready to back up a long way.  The point is, it takes a fair amount of time to reach the summit, even in a vehicle, and it takes concentration and a desire to get to the top.  

The same is true of our spiritual journey in life.  Living our faith is often like climbing a steep mountain without really knowing what to expect at the end.  But the story of the Transfiguration reminds us that the higher we climb, the more the view is revealed to us.  And so we climb.

Once on top, the view is spectacular.  As I said, on a clear day you can see for hundreds of miles in all directions.  This particular fall morning was no exception.  It was a beautiful day, the cold air crystal clear in the early morning sun.  Standing on top like that helps you feel close to God, and the view is majestic.  In the movie “The Bucket List”, Morgan Freeman has as his #1 goal in life is to “Witness Something Truly Majestic”.  In his case, it was the Himalayas. Mine is Sunset Peak.

In our spiritual journey we are often called not to do anything, but to be a witness to something truly majestic – the presence of Christ alive and active in the world today.  And once we do, we are then called to share that witness when the time is right. Like my sharing my mountaintop experience with you today. Like my sharing my faith with you every Sunday.

Finally, there’s the journey down the mountain. As spectacular as the view was, I had to return to normal life.  This particular day the peak was above the fog bank that encircled the valleys below – you could not see anything at the bottom.  Mountain peaks poked out of the clouds like little islands in the middle of a frothy, foamy sea, and the road down led through it.  And so I had to focus on the road ahead as I came down, making sure that I didn’t lose my way.

Despite the closeness we feel to God at times when we are at Mass or in Adoration or even in our rooms in prayer, we still have to re-enter the secular world with all of its distractions and obstacles and temptations. Even after witnessing the Transfiguration, the disciples still returned to arguing about who was the greatest and worrying about their day-to-day journey.  We, too, often fall back into our daily routines, forgetting those moments where we have witnessed the majestic presence of Christ in our lives.

Still, we should crave those AHA! moments where we can encounter Christ, even if they require extra effort on our parts to experience them.  That is why we resort to fasting and almsgiving and additional prayer during Lent – to prepare ourselves for that very special encounter, the witness of the Resurrection of Christ at Easter.

One final thought.  If you would really like to experience a Transfiguration moment – one where you can see the Divinity of Christ at work - I urge you to consider attending an ACTS retreat.  The word “retreat” is sort of misleading, as ACTS is really more of an encounter with the living Christ present in the hearts and spirits of all who put on the retreat AND in those who attend it.  During your time there you will witness how God works in the lives of others and it may open your heart to His presence within you.  It is a truly transforming event.  Does it require you to “climb”? Certainly!  You have to be willing to take the time to attend.  If you think you are too busy and cannot take the time, then you may be the one who needs it the most.

Witnessing Jesus’ Divinity in the Transfiguration was a truly awesome experience for Peter, James and John.  But its real value was in the hope it inspired in the disciples after Christ’s Resurrection. May your encounters with the Divinity of Christ help you carry your crosses with the hope – The Promise – of your own Transfiguration in Heaven.

Sinners of Men

Sinners of Men
January 21, 2024    3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - B
by Dcn. Bob Bonomi

I’ve never trusted the story of Jonah and the Ninevites. I’ve always thought there was something fishy about it.  (Sorry, lately I’ve been amusing myself with “Dad Jokes” on Facebook.)

But seriously, Jonah was arguably one of greatest preachers of all time.  In less than 24 hours, he convinced the majority of the population of Nineveh, estimated to be around 120,000 people including the king and other legal authorities that the God of their enemy Israel, would destroy them in 40 days.  Jonah didn’t even call them to repentance and yet, without even an “or else” to offer them hope, they abandoned the status quo of their lives, put on sack cloth and fasted man and beast alike in the unspoken hope that God would spare them.  As for Jonah, he didn’t even want to be there!

But when God calls, we need to listen.  And in one way or another, we’re all called by God.

The calling of the first disciples in today’s Gospel is one of the few stories that can be found in one form or another in all four Gospels.  Last week we heard John’s version where Andrew and John were followers of St. John the Baptist and he pointed Jesus out to them, which led Andrew to bring his brother Simon Peter to Jesus; in Luke’s version there is a detailed interaction between Simon Peter and Jesus, with Jesus getting into Peter’s boat with him and Peter experiencing the miraculous catch of fish.

Both Matthew’s version and today’s version from Mark are briefer; Jesus merely says to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men” and they immediately drop everything and follow him.

I just finished re-watching Episode 4 from Season 1 of “The Chosen”, and it reminded me that even in the midst of our problems and sins – maybe because of them – God still calls us.

Why is this calling so important that all four Gospels include a version of it?  Last week Fr. Szatkowski talked about the call to religious vocations, and like the call of our first Pope, St. Peter, that is a significant message to us all, especially to the young men and women who are considering life as a priest or a member of a religious community.  But Jesus’ call is more than just a summons to future clergy and religious.  He is summoning each of us to become “fishers of men.”

I’ve shared this story many times, but it is still relevant today.  Twenty one years ago this month I made my first mission trip to Honduras, and the Sunday Gospel was this one.  I was traveling with a priest friend of mine who, fortunately, spoke better Spanish than I did.  Better, but not perfect.  You see, he presided at the Mass and proclaimed the Gospel, and when he got to the part where Jesus said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men", which in Spanish is "Síganme y haré de ustedes pescadores de hombres" (forgive my Spanish), he said, "Síganme y haré de ustedes pecadores de hombres", which in English would be "Come after me, and I will make you sinners of men."  

The local priest who concelebrated the Mass with him loved the slip of the tongue, and he used it all week long in his homilies to make a very important theological point – Jesus calls US, as sinners – to become fishers of men.  Every one of us.

What would it take for you to abandon your livelihood and follow Jesus?  In all four Gospels, those first called left everything to follow him.  In today’s Gospel, Peter and Andrew “abandoned” their nets and followed him.  James and John left behind parents and coworkers and followed him.

One thing is certain.  The early Christians believed Jesus when he said, “The kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the Gospel."  Gospel.  The Good News.  The GOOD news.

Good?  Jesus said this just after John the Baptist had been arrested and thrown into prison. Although Mark’s Gospel is considered the first of the four to be written down, remember that all of the Gospels were written after Jesus had been crucified, died, and had risen from the dead so the early Church had a pretty good idea of what would happen to them if they followed Jesus, and they did anyway.

Do you really believe that the Kingdom of God is at hand today?  The Kingdom of God IS at hand.  We are ALL called to be fishers of those people who are in need of the Good News.  We do not need to walk away from our families or livelihoods to proclaim the Good News – we can do it right where we are: to our children (or parents); to our friends; to our co-workers; to our neighbors.  Will it take sacrifice?  OF COURSE! While St. Paul may have seemed a little extreme in his letter to the Corinthians today, he is correct in that we must learn to place Jesus and his Good News as the priority of our lives.

One final thought.  Bishop Robert Barron, in a homily on John’s version of today’s message, once said that it “offers a compelling meditation about the importance of Christ for the activities of the Church. Christians are meant to be fishers of men, but when we operate according to our own agendas and efforts we will catch nothing. We must act under the Lord's direction. If we follow Christ we will do great good indeed.”

Whether we are Pescadores or Pecadores, God has need of us.  And as Pecadores, we have need of Him.