Sunday Gospel Reflection, March 22, 2026: Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live

Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live…
Can we find new life in Christ? 

   De Profundis, as Psalm 130 is more commonly known, speaks to the experience of an individual who has found himself in dire need of God’s mercy: Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord, the psalmist sings, Lord, hear my voice! It is a psalm that would perhaps have brought comfort to the people of Israel exiled to Babylon: For with the Lord is kindness and plenteous redemption; and he will redeem Israel from all their iniquities. In the midst of this difficult exile, the people of Israel hear words of restoration from the prophet Ezekiel, words of hope and promise that only God can provide: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel. Their identity will come not only from the land that will be restored to them, but from God’s spirit implanted in them: I will put my spirit in you that you may live, God promises. To be in relationship with the God who loves them is to have the life God promises. 

   Jesus’ friend Lazarus has not fallen out of right relationship with the Lord as the people of Israel had. But in John’s Gospel, Jesus uses his good friend’s illness as a means through which he can reveal the Father’s work through him and with him, that all might come to believe. When, even in the midst of her grief, Martha expresses her continued trust in Jesus’ plan, Jesus reassures her definitively: whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live. If Lazarus can be raised, set free from death itself, then all have the opportunity to be freed from their fear of death, and live. We can live, as Paul tells the Romans, in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in us. Physical death, even a body dead because of sin, is as nothing so long as the spirit is alive because of righteousness, for the one who raised Christ from the dead gives life to our mortal bodies also. If Jesus dwells in us, if we allow him entry, then we can be alive in Christ, finding new life in him and giving resounding witness to the glory of God! 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

The gift of spiritual vision (Fr. David Justin Lynch)

   When Jesus calls us out of darkness, he bestows on us the gift of spiritual vision, to look at the world in a new way, not just with our physical eyes, but with our hearts and souls. The beauty of God’s creation is a spiritual vision. When you go outside and look at the mountains, the forest, the desert and the ocean, those whose eyes are spiritually opened will not only see them as physical objects but will experience the majesty of their utter beauty. Spiritual vision also extends to how we look at both ourselves and others. 

   Spiritual vision invites us to look at our lives and those of others not only fully and objectively, but lovingly as well. Lovingly is how God sees us. God looks at the entire universe but at the same time looks lovingly at each one of us. God invites us to see the big picture of our lives and our world, and to do so with love. Jesus tells us, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.” 

   Therefore, let Jesus alone be the light of your world. Be children of light, not children of darkness. Live in the light of spiritual awareness, not spiritual darkness… 

--Fr. David Justin Lynch 

Image source: Mount Shasta, https://www.atlasandboots.com/travel-blog/most-beautiful-mountains-in-the-us/
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Turn to the Lord (St. Patrick)

I turned with all my heart
to the Lord my God. 

--St. Patrick

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all!

Image source: George Walsh, St. Patrick Window (1972), St. Bullaum Church, Galway, Ireland, https://www.facebook.com/groups/303462353173920/posts/2508077226045744/
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The Christian way of seeing (Bishop Robert Barron)

   Friends, today in the strange and strikingly beautiful account of the healing of the man born blind in John’s Gospel, we find an iconic representation of Christianity as a way of seeing. Jesus spits on the ground and makes a mud paste, which he then rubs onto the man’s eyes. When the man washes his eyes in the pool of Siloam as Jesus had instructed him, his sight is restored. 

   The crowds are amazed, but the Pharisees—consternated and skeptical—accuse him of being naïve and the one who healed him of being a sinner. With disarming simplicity the visionary responds: “If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.” 

   This is precisely what all Christians say when they have encountered the light of Christ. It was St. Augustine who saw in the making of the mud paste a metaphor for the Incarnation: the divine power mixing with the earth, resulting in the formation of a healing balm. When this salve of God made flesh is rubbed onto our eyes blinded by sin, we come again to see. 

   Reflect: How is the Christian way of seeing different from the culture’s way of seeing? 

--Bishop Robert Barron

Image source: El Greco, Healing of the Man Born Blind (1570), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healing_of_the_Man_Born_Blind_%28El_Greco,_Dresden%29
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Join me on the road (Henri Nouwen)

     Please, Lord, join me on the road, enter into my closed room, and take my foolishness away. Open my mind and heart to the great mystery of your active presence in my life, and give me the courage to help others discover your presence in their lives. Amen. 

--Henri Nouwen

Image source: https://yearningheartsjourney.blogspot.com/2011/09/living-in-constant-awareness-of-gods.html
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Sharper spiritual vision (Daniel Harrington)

   The story of the man born blind in John 9 is one of the seven “signs” or miracle stories in the Fourth Gospel. As a sign it points to the central mysteries of our faith—Jesus’ death and resurrection. In a long, complicated process, the man who had been blind since birth comes to see on both physical and spiritual levels, while those who seemed to see perfectly well become increasingly blind. The man born blind is a good symbol for us in the middle of Lent as we try to sharpen our own spiritual sight. 

  

   The narrative begins with the disciples’ question about the cause of the man’s blindness. Was it caused by his own sin or that of his parents? Jesus dismisses these explanations and asserts that the “works of God” will be made visible through him. Then in a somewhat unusual (almost magical) procedure, Jesus anoints the man’s eyes with mud and sends him to wash in the pool of Siloam. Healed, the man is able to see on the physical level. But that is only the beginning of his coming to see the true identity of his healer. 

   When his neighbors question him, the man affirms that he was indeed healed by “the man called Jesus.” When the Pharisees contend that his healer could not be from God because he healed him on the Sabbath and thereby performed forbidden work, the man asserts that his healer is “a prophet.” The opponents then question his parents about whether their son had really been born blind. Their response is guarded: they confirm that he was born blind and now can see, but they profess ignorance about his healer. When the opponents summon the man again and try to make him condemn Jesus as a sinner, he refuses and states that Jesus must be “from God.” When he finally meets Jesus again, the man accepts Jesus’ self-identification as the “Son of Man”—in John’s Gospel a glorious figure. Note the man’s journey in coming to see who Jesus really is: first a man, then a prophet and someone from God, and finally the glorious Son of Man. 

   The blind man’s progress in spiritual sight is paralleled by the opponents’ descent into spiritual blindness. While their inquiry starts quite objectively, their understanding of Jesus becomes increasingly hazy. First they insist that Jesus must be a sinner because he broke the Sabbath. Then they dismiss the man’s claim that Jesus is from God. Finally, in their own encounter with Jesus, they fail to recognize their spiritual blindness and sinfulness in rejecting Jesus as the revealer and revelation of God. 

   Through several rounds of conversations the man born blind comes to see Jesus as he is, while the “spiritual leaders” of the people fall into even greater spiritual blindness. Many interpreters find in this story a sketch of the history of the Johannine community in its efforts to clarify their own understanding of Jesus and in their struggles within first-century Judaism. But it also presents lessons for us today as individuals and as a community of faith. 

   The blind man’s progress in spiritual sight reminds us that we need God’s grace and revelation to move toward sharper spiritual vision. This point is illustrated by the prophet Samuel’s efforts (today’s first reading) to identify God’s anointed among the sons of Jesse and his final recognition of David as the one chosen by God. Likewise, the opponents’ descent into greater spiritual blindness warns us that if we think we already know all about Jesus, we may be blinding ourselves to the many surprising features of Jesus’ person and fail to see in him the glory of God. 

   Today’s reading from the Letter to the Ephesians ends with what seems to be a quotation from an early Christian baptismal hymn: “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” The exhortation that precedes it concerns living as “children of light” insofar as “light” produces goodness, righteousness and truth. 

   In a few weeks, at the Easter Vigil, the celebrant will intone “Light of Christ” three times as a summary of the Easter message. The hope is that we will let Christ be our light, live out of the power of Jesus’ resurrection, see things more clearly and act more appropriately, having “no part in the fruitless works of darkness.” A good prayer for the remaining days of Lent is to ask God to help us see Christ more clearly, love him more dearly and follow him more nearly. 

--Daniel Harrington

Image source: Jorge Cocco Santángelo, Jesus Heals the Man Born Blind, available for purchase at: https://altusfineart.com/products/jorge-cocco-your-faith-has-made-you-whole-jesus-heals-blind-man?srsltid=AfmBOooQBi_xTkI_dmYIZwpM33tIOa96OkFyfMb253E1j3gJsB0hKcBi
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What does it mean to live in the light? (Fr. Ron Rolheiser)

    We’re called to live in the light, but we tend to have an overly romantic idea of what that should mean. We tend to think that to live in the light means that there should be a kind of special sunshine inside of us, a divine glow in our conscience, a sunny joy inside us that makes us constantly want to praise God, and ambience of sacredness surrounding our attitude. But that’s unreal. What does it mean to live in the light? 

    

    To live in the light means to live in honesty, pure and simple, to be transparent, to not have part of us hidden as a dark secret. 

--Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI 

Image source: https://blog.whoisgrace.com/how-to-let-the-light-of-jesus-shine-in-and-through-you/
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