Fourth Sunday Of Lent

Maryknoll Sister Kathleen Reiley reflects on Christ as the light of the world.

“I am the light of the world, says the Lord; whoever follows me will have the light of life.”

In the midst of so much heartbreaking news these days, how uplifting to realize that Christ is the light of the world and we who follow him will have the light of life.

I pray that in the face of so much darkness in our society, we may have the courage of the blind man in today’s Gospel reading.

The Pharisees are stymied by the blind man whom Jesus cured. “Give glory to God! For our part, we know that this man is a sinner.” The man answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner; I only know that I was blind and now I can see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He replied, “I have told you once, and you wouldn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it all again? Do you want to become his disciples too?” At this, they hurled abuse at him: “You can be his disciple,” they said, “we are disciples of Moses: we know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man replied, “Now here is an astonishing thing! He has opened my eyes, and you don’t know where he comes from! We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but God does listen to men who are devout and do his will.”

Overwhelmed by so much human-caused oppression and suffering in our world today, can we speak as boldly to those in authority and be the ‘light of Christ’ shining with love, care and compassion?

As a volunteer at the Arrupe Refugee Center in Kamakura, Japan, I ask God to help me be a ray of God’s love and care for them as they face such an uncertain future.

I believe all of us are called to be the ‘light of Christ’, filled with the joy of knowing the paschal mystery is the way to true Life.

I pray that in the face of so much darkness in our society- we may have the courage of the blind man in today’s gospel.

Maryknoll Sister Kathleen Reiley serves in Japan where she ministers to children with cancer, women, day laborers and people afflicted with alcoholism. Following the earthquake and tsunami that brought about the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, Sister Kathleen has worked to raise awareness of the dangers of nuclear power.

Photo: courtesy of Ilja Tulit, available in the public domain via Unsplash.