bishop_foys

The speaker discusses a gospel passage about a man born blind who is expelled from the temple but sought out by Jesus. The speaker emphasizes that when people embrace the gospel message, they may be separated from others, but they become closer to Jesus and have a better chance of drawing others to the gospel. The speaker shares a personal story of a man who faced opposition from his family but ultimately influenced them to join the church. The progression of the blind man's faith is also highlighted, from referring to Jesus as "that man" to recognizing him as a prophet and finally as "my Lord." The speaker encourages the audience to embrace Jesus as their Lord and let him lead them from darkness to light. Praised be Jesus Christ. Good afternoon. It is a real pleasure to be with you this afternoon and to offer you some words on this gospel passage. But I have to tell you that I am preaching under great stress and duress because last evening my Master of Ceremonies told me, Bishop, you know that I was reading the instructions for tomorrow and it says that Mass normally ends at 3.45. Well, the gospel took six minutes to read. Well, for me to preach and get the honor by 3.45, you've got to have a two-verse gospel. I was just going to condense my homily into the important things and say, do good, avoid evil, and love your Bishop. This gospel passage from the ninth chapter of the Gospel of St. John is certainly appropriate for the Lenten season, which is why it is in the Cycle A readings of the Gospels for Lent. But it's also very appropriate for this gathering here today, moving from darkness into light, from evil into good. It is a long gospel and there are vast commentaries written on it. I want to share just two points with you from this gospel. The first is that after the bickering back and forth, were you born blind, were you not born blind, whose sin was it, calling in the parents and so forth, finally, the result is that this poor man who was born blind and given sight is expelled from the temple. He's put out. And the Lord of the temple comes to seek him. He is put out of the temple, but the Lord of the temple comes to seek him. In our own lives, in our own time, when people embrace the Christian message, the gospel message, they are oftentimes separated from others, sometimes even from their loved ones. But the closer we come to the gospel message and the more we embrace the gospel message, the closer we come to Jesus and the closer he is to us. And the closer we come to the gospel message and to Jesus, the better the chance that we draw others also to the gospel and to the Lord. I've seen that in my own priesthood. Having been a parish priest for almost 30 years before the Holy Father called me to the Diocese of Covington as bishop, I saw that happen a number of times. One case I remember very clearly, a young man was coming into the church through the RCIA program. He was from a very prominent family in our town who were not Catholic. And as he went through the RCIA program, he struggled with the fact that his family said, if you do this, we will disown you. We will have nothing to do with you. Don't bother to come and visit us, you, your wife or your children. Struggled with that during the entire RCIA process. And in the end, he decided that coming into the church and bearing witness to the gospel was so important that if it meant stepping back and away from even those he loved, he had to do it. And he did. The breakthrough was that at the Easter vigil, his entire family came because they were so impressed with the depth of his faith and with his courage. And within two years, the rest of his family came into the church. God's grace. The closer we come to the gospel message, the closer we embrace the gospel message, the closer we are to Jesus and he to us. And we can be a catalyst to draw others. The second point I want to make about this gospel is this man born blind, the progression of his faith. When the Pharisees asked him, how did you come to see? He said, that man made mud with his spittle and opened my eyes. That man, Jesus. Extraordinary man, to be sure, to work a miracle like this. But he referred to him as that man. And then later, going back and forth again with his parents, with the man born blind, they say to him, what do you have to say about this man named Jesus who opened your eyes? He is a prophet. He is a prophet. A prophet being one who brings God's message to the world. That man called Jesus who opened my eyes is a prophet. Later on, after he was expelled from the temple and Jesus sought him out, the man born blind who now sees, who came from darkness into light, calls him my Lord. The man named Jesus opened my eyes. He is a prophet. He is our Lord. The progression there of the man's belief in Jesus Christ. We pray in this time and in this place that we may see Jesus as our Lord. That by embracing his message and by embracing him, he will bring us from darkness into light. Because it is Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the light. And who will light our way on this earth. So that one day we will enjoy eternal life and eternal life with him forever.