Holy Saturday



“Lamentation over the Dead Christ” by  Bernardo Strozzi, 1615-17

There Is No Mass Today Until the Easter Vigil – Instead we will reflect upon an ancient homily from the Divine Office for Holy Saturday:

The Lord descends into hell

Something strange is happening-there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search far our first parent, as for a lost sheep, Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve, The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam the first man he had created struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: "My Lord be with you all." Christ answered him: "And with your spirit." He took him by the hand and raised him up saying: “Awake O sleeper and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

I am your God, who for your sake have became your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to came forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead; for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.

For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among thy dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life l once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.[1]

Reflection:
It seems a bit odd, a reflection on a Homily, but it is ancient. We can hear the age in it as easily as we hear the truth in it. The ancient anonymous homilist has a vision of Christ that sees him in his Godhead much more than his humanity. In this day, perhaps that is a vision of our Lord we need to share. Certainly, when he passed from this life to the next as his earthly body perished on the cross, he would have become fully aware of his nature as true God. I think, in modern times we would have thought of the Lord as more humble when he went down to free the captives and raise the firstborn of the dead as is foretold.

It is probably true that, in the early Church, Christ was viewed with a greater sense of the Old Testament "God of Justice" image. As the community has reflected on Jesus over the past two thousand years, we have come to understand his nature as more compassionate and less authoritarian.

It is a bit difficult to imagine this scene since, while I have read this passage in the past, I have never formally reflected upon it. Indeed the earth is holding its breath as we wait for the King of Glory to return. It is clear our homilist in this case has captured our Lord’s life and purpose in his address to those who have gone before. It is good to be reminded in the terms he (the homilist uses) of what our Savior came to do and what he gave up to do it. Pax

[1]Liturgy of the Hours, Vol. II pp: 496-498, Catholic Book Publishing Co., New York, NY © 1976

OPTIONAL MASS OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT

“Elisha Raising the Son of the Shunammite”
by Lord Frederic Leighton, 1890

This Mass may be used on any day of this week, especially in Years B and C when the Gospel of Lazarus is not read on the Fifth Sunday of Lent.

Readings for Optional Mass For the Fifth Week of Lent

Readings and Commentary: [2]

FIRST READING
2 Kings 4:18b-21, 32-37

The day came when the child of the Shunammite woman
was old enough to go out to his father among the reapers.
"My head hurts!" he complained to his father.
"Carry him to his mother," the father said to a servant.
The servant picked him up and carried him to his mother;
he stayed with her until noon, when he died in her lap.
The mother took him upstairs and laid him on the bed of the man of God.
Closing the door on him, she went out.
When Elisha reached the house,
he found the boy lying dead.
He went in, closed the door on them both,
and prayed to the LORD.
Then he lay upon the child on the bed,
placing his mouth upon the child's mouth,
his eyes upon the eyes, and his hands upon the hands.
As Elisha stretched himself over the child, the body became warm.
He arose, paced up and down the room,
and then once more lay down upon the boy,
who now sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
Elisha summoned Gehazi and said,
"Call the Shunammite."
She came at his call, and Elisha said to her, "Take your son."
She came in and fell at his feet in gratitude;
then she took her son and left the room.
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Commentary on 2 Kgs 4:18b-21, 32-37

In the previous verses, the Shunaminite woman had done a great kindness to Elisha, providing him a roof and food when he passed by.  In return, he asked God to give her a son, for she had none and her husband was advanced in years.  This first gift from God is followed in this passage by a second as Elisha raises the child from death.

In doing so, the Prophet prefigures Christ who according to a sermon by St. Augustine, “Elisha arrived and went up to the chamber, just as Christ would come and go up to the scaffold of the cross. Elisha stretched himself upon the child, to raise him up; Christ humbled himself in order to raise up the world that was laid prone by sin. Elisha put his eyes on the child's eyes, his hands on his hands. Notice, my brothers, how that grown-up man shrank himself in order to fit the size of the dead child. What Elisha prefigured (in the way he cured the child), Christ fulfilled in regard to all mankind. Listen to what the Apostle says; 'He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death.' Because we were children, he made himself a child; because we lay dead, the first thing the doctor did was to bend over, for no one can raise his stricken brother unless he bends down to him. The child's sneezing seven times stands for the seven forms of grace of the Holy Spirit that are given mankind, in order to raise it up, at Christ's coming (Sermons attributed to St Augustine, Sermons, 42, 8). [3]

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RESPONSORIAL PSALM
Psalm 17:1, 6-7, 8b and 15

R. (15b) Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.

Hear, O LORD, a just suit;
attend to my outcry;
hearken to my prayer from lips without deceit.
R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.

I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me; hear my word.
Show your wondrous mercies,
O savior of those who flee
from their foes to refuge at your right hand.
R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.

Hide me in the shadow of your wings.
But I in justice shall behold your face;
on waking, I shall be content in your presence.
R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
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Commentary on Ps 17:1, 6-7, 8b and 15

Psalm 17 is a lament, a cry from one unjustly accused by enemies.  The psalmist begins proclaiming his innocence before God.  The plea for God to hear and answer is made followed by the steadfast hope in salvation and trust in God’s mercy.

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GOSPEL:
John 11:1-45

Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany,
the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil
and dried his feet with her hair;
it was her brother Lazarus who was ill.

So the sisters sent word to him saying,
“Master, the one you love is ill.”
when Jesus heard this he said,
“This illness is not to end in death,
but is for the glory of God,
that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
So when he heard that he was ill,
he remained for two days in the place where he was.
Then after this he said to his disciples,
“Let us go back to Judea.”
The disciples said to him,
“Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you,
and you want to go back there?”
Jesus answered,
“Are there not twelve hours in a day?
If one walks during the day, he does not stumble,
because he sees the light of this world.
But if one walks at night, he stumbles,
because the light is not in him.”
He said this, and then told them,
“Our friend Lazarus is asleep,
but I am going to awaken him.”
So the disciples said to him,
“Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.”
But Jesus was talking about his death,
while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep.
So then Jesus said to them clearly,
“Lazarus has died.
And I am glad for you that I was not there,
that you may believe.
Let us go to him.”
So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples,
“Let us also go to die with him.”

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus
had already been in the tomb for four days.
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away.
And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary
to comfort them about their brother.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.”
Jesus said to her,

“Your brother will rise.”
Martha said to him,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.”

When she had said this,
she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying,
“The teacher is here and is asking for you.”
As soon as she heard this,
she rose quickly and went to him.
For Jesus had not yet come into the village,
but was still where Martha had met him.
So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her
saw Mary get up quickly and go out,
they followed her,
presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him,
she fell at his feet and said to him,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.”
When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping,
he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said,
“Where have you laid him?”
They said to him, “Sir, come and see.”
And Jesus wept.
So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”
But some of them said,
“Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man
have done something so that this man would not have died?”

So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb.
It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him,
“Lord, by now there will be a stench;
he has been dead for four days.”
Jesus said to her,
“Did I not tell you that if you believe
you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone.
And Jesus raised his eyes and said,

“Father, I thank you for hearing me.
I know that you always hear me;
but because of the crowd here I have said this,
that they may believe that you sent me.”
And when he had said this,
He cried out in a loud voice,
“Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out,
tied hand and foot with burial bands,
and his face was wrapped in a cloth.
So Jesus said to them,
“Untie him and let him go.”

Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what he had done began to believe in him.
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Commentary on Jn 11:1-45

We join Jesus’ last journey to Jerusalem recounted in St. John’s Gospel.  The story of Lazarus’ resurrection is part of what is known as “The seventh sign”.  The Jerome Biblical Commentary does a nice job of summarizing the purpose: “In the narration of this miracle Jn gives at one and the same time a supreme proof of the Lord's life-giving power and a visualization of the doctrine contained in the conversation of vv. 23-27. The miracle literally fulfills the words of Jesus in 5:28; it is a sign, therefore, both of the final resurrection and of the rising from sin to grace that takes place in the soul of the believer.”[4]

Within the story we see the very human emotions of Jesus they range from confidence in his relationship with the Father at the end of the story to the all too human grief and fear as he expresses his concern at what this revelatory event has cost his close friends, Martha and Mary, as they see their brother die.  This exchange of fear for faith seen in the witnesses is the same conversion the Gospel attempts to initiate in the Christian faithful in response to these events.

CCC: Jn 11 994; Jn 11:24 993, 1001; Jn 11:25 994; Jn 11:27 439; Jn 11:28 581; Jn 11:34 472; Jn 11:39 627; Jn 11:41-42 2604; Jn 11:44 640
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Reflection:

See Sunday of the Fifth Week of Lent A

[1] The picture is “Elisha Raising the Son of the Shunammite” by Lord Frederic Leighton, 1890

[2] The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.

[3] The Navarre Bible: “Joshua-Kings”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, pp. 529

[4] Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 63:123, pp.446

OPTIONAL MASS OF THE FOURTH WEEK OF LENT

Readings for the Optional Mass of the Fourth Week of Lent [1]

This Mass may be used on any day of the Fourth Week of Lent, especially in years B

and C when the Gospel of the man born blind is not read on the Fourth

Sunday of Lent.

Readings and Commentary: [2]

FIRST READING

Micah 7:7-9

 

I will look to the LORD,

I will put my trust in God my savior;

my God will hear me!

Rejoice not over me, O my enemy!

though I have fallen, I will arise;

though I sit in darkness, the LORD is my light.

The wrath of the LORD I will endure

because I have sinned against him,

Until he takes up my cause,

and establishes my right.

He will bring me forth to the light;

I will see his justice.

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Commentary on Mi 7:7-9

This selection concludes the Prophet’s lament in v.7 with faith and trust that God will forgive the sins of the people. It then begins the final section of the book which presents his own contrition and hope for the Lord’s forgiveness and mercy to those who return to him.

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RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Psalm 27:1, 7-8a, 8b-9abc, 13-14

R. (1a) The Lord is my light and my salvation.

The LORD is my light and my salvation;

whom should I fear?

The LORD is my life's refuge;

of whom should I be afraid?

R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Hear, O LORD, the sound of my call;

have pity on me and answer me.

Of you my heart speaks; you my glance seeks.

R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Your presence, O LORD, I seek!

Hide not your face from me;

do not in anger repel your servant.

You are my helper; cast me not off.

R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.

I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD

in the land of the living.

Wait for the LORD with courage;

be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD!

R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.

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Commentary on Ps 27:1, 7-8a, 8b-9abc, 13-14

Psalm 27 begins in the form of a soliloquy asserting God’s role as refuge and savior. This passage continues with a prayer as the psalmist yearns to see God’s face to obtain his indulgence.

“Commenting on this psalm, St. Augustine writes; ‘In the most hidden place, where only you may hear it, my heart says to you: Lord, I seek your face: and I will continue in this search, without ever taking rest, so that I may love you freely, for I will never find anything more precious than [your face]’ (Enarrationes in Psalmos, 26.8) [3]

CCC: Ps 27:8 2730

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GOSPEL:

John 9:1-41

As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth.

His disciples asked him,

“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,

that he was born blind?”

Jesus answered,

“Neither he nor his parents sinned;

it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.

We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day.

Night is coming when no one can work.

While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

When he had said this, he spat on the ground

and made clay with the saliva,

and smeared the clay on his eyes,

and said to him,

“Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” —which means Sent—.

So he went and washed, and came back able to see.

His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said,

“Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?”

Some said, “It is, “

but others said, “No, he just looks like him.”

He said, “I am.”

So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”

He replied,

“The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes

and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’

So I went there and washed and was able to see.”

And they said to him, “Where is he?”

He said, “I don’t know.”

They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees.

Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath.

So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see.

He said to them,

“He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.”

So some of the Pharisees said,

“This man is not from God,

because he does not keep the sabbath.”

But others said,

“How can a sinful man do such signs?”

And there was a division among them.

So they said to the blind man again,

“What do you have to say about him,

since he opened your eyes?”

He said, “He is a prophet.”

Now the Jews did not believe

that he had been blind and gained his sight

until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight.

They asked them,

“Is this your son, who you say was born blind?

How does he now see?”

His parents answered and said,

“We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.

We do not know how he sees now,

nor do we know who opened his eyes.

Ask him, he is of age;

he can speak for himself.”

His parents said this because they were afraid

of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed

that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ,

he would be expelled from the synagogue.

For this reason his parents said,

“He is of age; question him.”

So a second time they called the man who had been blind

and said to him, “Give God the praise!

We know that this man is a sinner.”

He replied,

“If he is a sinner, I do not know.

One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.”

So they said to him,

“What did he do to you?

How did he open your eyes?”

He answered them,

“I told you already and you did not listen.

Why do you want to hear it again?

Do you want to become his disciples, too?”

They ridiculed him and said,

“You are that man’s disciple;

we are disciples of Moses!

We know that God spoke to Moses,

but we do not know where this one is from.”

The man answered and said to them,

“This is what is so amazing,

that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes.

We know that God does not listen to sinners,

but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him.

It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind.

If this man were not from God,

he would not be able to do anything.”

They answered and said to him,

“You were born totally in sin,

and are you trying to teach us?”

Then they threw him out.

When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out,

he found him and said, (Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

He answered and said,

“Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”

Jesus said to him,

“You have seen him,

the one speaking with you is he.”

He said,

“I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him.

Then Jesus said,

“I came into this world for judgment,

so that those who do not see might see,

and those who do see might become blind.”

Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this

and said to him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?”

Jesus said to them,

“If you were blind, you would have no sin;

but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.

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Commentary on Jn 9:1-41

The story of the healing of the man born blind is the sixth sign that Jesus is the Son of God from St. John’s Gospel. In this story we are presented with Jesus as “The light of the world”. The story provides a number of key theological points that help understand the mission of Christ.

The first of these points is the understanding that sin is not inherited. The Jews believed that the man born blind had inherited sin ("Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?") This understanding would have been shared by the Pharisees in that it was supported by both tradition and Old Testament Scripture (Exodus 20:5).

Next we see that the Pharisees are accusing Jesus of violating the Sabbath, considering it “work” to cure a person on that day when all work was to cease. The logic that flowed from this was that Jesus could not he a prophet (much less the Messiah) if he did not keep the scrupulous Pharisaic laws governing the Sabbath.

The references to the miracle were clearly disturbing to the people of the Jewish community as we hear even the parents of the man born blind avoiding validating Jesus’ standing as prophet or Messiah for fear of be called blasphemous and being thrown out or shunned by the faith community. This is what happened to the man born blind as he continued to argue that Jesus was from God and that he was the Messiah. This reaction/rejection attitude about Jesus as Messiah was formalized by the Jewish hierarchy around 85 A.D. when the curse against the minim or heretics was introduced into the "Eighteen Benedictions."

CCC: Jn 9:6 1151, 1504; Jn 9:7 1504; Jn 9:16-17 595; Jn 9:16 596, 2173; Jn 9:22 575, 596; Jn 9:31 2827; Jn  9:34 588; Jn 9:40-41 588
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Homily:

Heavenly Father, we humbly pray that those suffering from the coronavirus be returned quickly to full health by the power of your Son’s healing presence, and those in fear be calmed through the Holy Spirit.
In Christ’s name we pray. – Amen.

I’d like to have you reflect with me about what took place in the Gospel story we just heard.  I know, it has just been proclaimed, and it is a story familiar to us with many symbolic parts (coming as it does from St. John’s Gospel).  But I’d like to tell the story of the man born blind as I have imagined it, not as simply the sixth miracle story, not as another one of Jesus’ miracles, but as it must have impacted a real person and a real community.

First, let’s give the man born blind a name. No name is provided by St. John, so let’s call him Abner. (In Hebrew it means “father of light.” In the bible, he was King Saul's cousin, and the commander of his army. Abner was a valiant warrior and clever strategist.)  When our "Abner" was still in the womb, his parents would have been filled with expectation. As with all parents, there was hope that he would become a great man.

Those hopes turned to ashes when they discovered some time after his birth that he could not see.  In those times, this terrible affliction not only meant Abner would grow up to be a beggar (that was all he would be able to do once he came of age and his parents could no longer support him).  It also meant that Abner’s parents, or perhaps even his grandparents had committed some unforgiven sin.  What other reason could there be for God to punish them so – causing their son to be born blind.
This stain of humiliation would have caused Abner’s family to lose any esteem they may have had within their community.  People would have wondered: what awful thing did they do to merit Abner’s affliction?  It is no wonder that, after the miracle happened, they would have been less than cooperative with the local Jewish leaders, telling them to ask Abner about the miracle cure since he was of age.

Growing up in that village, Abner would have had a difficult time as well.  Children would have heard from their parents how Abner was being punished by God, and they would not have been overly kind. Certainly Abner would have been lucky to have any friends.  From his teenage years he would have been forced to beg for subsistence.  He was completely dependent upon the charity of others.

Then, on a day, his life would be changed forever. Abner was sitting in his customary place on the outskirts of modern day Jerusalem. He heard a discussion in which he was keenly interested: 
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

They were talking about him and he listened, already feeling humiliation for what he expected to follow, blame would be cast at either himself or his family.  To his surprise the next voice he heard filled him with awe:

“Neither he nor his parents sinned; (the man said) it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

All of the sudden he heard footsteps approaching and someone was smearing something damp on his eyes.  Abner would have been startled.  Only the very brave would seek to intervene against God’s will.  Then the man said:

“Go wash in the Pool of Siloam.”

Siloam was a small pool cut out of rock not too far away.  Abner knew the way, and the authority with which he was told to go propelled him in that direction, feeling his way along what must have been a familiar path.

When he washed his eyes, for the first time in his experience he saw light. Abner must have gasped at least.  Unfamiliar shapes surrounded him.  Knowing more by touch and smell than any other sense, he would have seen his own face for the first time in that small pool. Knowledge and memory would have flooded into him: “I am the light of the world,” all of the sudden they would have meaning to Abner.  He would have rushed back to the Lord, moving faster than he had ever been able to move.  But who had cured him?  Abner would have looked frantically seeking the voice because that would be the only way he could recognize the Lord.

People were staring at him now too.  They knew him. How was it possible he could now see?  They would have asked Abner how it had happened, and he knew only the name “Jesus.”  It must have been mentioned by one of those following the Lord, but not recorded in scripture.  They asked him where Jesus was, but poor Abner had never seen his face.

Jewish Law required Abner to go to the priests to demonstrate his wellbeing when cures were affected.  This one would have really perturbed them.  Abner had not recovered from some accident or gotten over some disease. He had been blind from birth.  And these priests knew something Abner did not.  They knew the identity of Jesus, and also knew he was a threat to their authority.

They needed to prove Jesus did not cause this miracle.  First they challenged Abner’s identity. They even brought in his parents.  Then they tried to prove Jesus had blasphemed by doing work on the Sabbath.  Nothing changed the fact that God had been revealed in this carpenter’s son from Galilee. 
Abner knew what had happened.  He had heard Jesus speak even though he was blind. He had heard the words of the Law and Prophets his whole life.  Jesus, who had smeared mud in his eyes and restored his sight must certainly be the Messiah.  He challenged those in authority.  When they started in the third time, Abner asked them: “Do you want to become his disciples, too?”

With that the priests effectively excommunicated him from the synagogue, a punishment for challenging their authority.  Abner left the synagogue and found the Lord. Something in this man erased any doubt Abner had left.  When the Lord asked: “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” (Using Isaiah’s words for the Messiah), Abner only needed to be sure by asking:
“Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”

And when Jesus identified himself, Abner worshiped him – probably falling at his feet.
We do not know what became of Abner after that.  He was undoubtedly one of the Lord’s followers, walking proof of God’s love.  He saw and believed.

We are offered this story so we too might be reminded.  Jesus was a real person.  He walked the earth and lived as we do.  We are asked to believe without seeing and follow him, the Light of the World, and in doing so become light ourselves.

Pax

[1] The picture is “Christ healing the Blind” by El Greco, 1567

[2] The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.

[3] The Navarre Bible: “Psalms”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, pp 109