DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Monday, January 24, 2019

(I have been absent for a few days as I transferred my files to another computer.)

Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”– John 9:39-41

As a man of devotion, these words of Christ haunt me.  They penetrate to the core of my being, this examination of my vision.  The Pharisees were believers.  The Pharisees were quite devout in their manner.  The Pharisees were steadfast in their devotion to the old tradition.  The Pharisees were seeking a return to a more conservative faith in hope of inspiring the coming of a messiah.  The Pharisees were student of the scriptures.  The Pharisees were orthodox in their doctrine.  The Pharisees sought a purity of the faith.  The Pharisees were absolutely convinced that they represented the true faith.  And yet … in their claiming that they saw the Truth they were found to be instead … found blind.

This passage is a caution to the zealots of righteousness.  In that zealotry that claims that only our way, our causes is right, so often the zealot is blinded by his or her own self-righteousness.

What causes this Pharisaic blindness?  Lack of humility.  Lack of openness.  Lack of a self-searching examination of one’s own authenticity and inner integrity.  Lack of confession that leads to a correction of course.  And so as a devout man I must ask the Lord …”Am I a blind Pharisee of my particular kind?”

So often, I cannot figure out why so many people seem blind to the forces of evil at work. So often, I cannot understand why so many people seem blind to the higher possibility.  Yet … if I dare to ask those questions, I must ask myself in the hearing of the Lord … “Am I in certain ways blind?”

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz