Pastor's Spiritual Reflections

By Fr. Leo Schneider (3/2/2008)

Dear People of Holy Name,

In today’s gospel we witness the denial of the Pharisees. They are so blinded by their religious customs, that they can’t admit the goodness of Jesus in healing the man born blind. Even when the blind man points out that a person in sin could not do such things, they demonize him saying he was born “totally in sin.”

Another expression of their denial is the threat they level against anyone who might acknowledge Jesus by throwing them out of the temple. The man’s parents fear this social judgment so much, that they are willing to turn on their own son and say, “ask him, he is of age; he can speak for himself.”

Denial is a strong force driven by fear. The Jews had their world view and they didn’t want any changes. Even if something was obviously good, but was against the norms that held them in power, they demonized it to keep the status quo. For the Pharisees conversion and change were dirty words.

I believe denial is still a real issue in the world today, both in the systemic structures of our society and in our individual views of the world. Both church and government institutionalize prejudices that go undetected by all but those who are offended. In the 60’s there was great social turmoil in our country and the shooting of Dr. Martin Luther King was an act of angry denial by white people who didn’t want to change the world they lived in.

In the fundamentalist Muslim communities, they don’t want their women educated and they want to continue to mutilate them. Their hatred of the West is an expression of their denial and fear of changing the world they live in.

Whenever there is silencing of opinions, and when a group of people are not able to speak the truth they have come to know about themselves and their world, there is more than likely denial operating at some level. So we must wonder, is the shutting down of discussions in our church on different issues denial? Is the defining of objective sin, without reference to the God given experience of people, an act of denial? What are we afraid of if we trust in the goodness of God who truly loves us so much he dies for us?

Fear is powerful and leads us to act defensively as if to save our very lives. While there is a place for fear, much of our prejudices are unnecessary and keep us from Spirit-filled lives. Conversion is being willing to look at the way we think and view the world. Conversion questions our emotional and visceral reactions to things, and seeks a deeper peace that embraces differences, without being personally threatened.

Trust in the goodness of God, who is willing to heal even on the Sabbath, is the foundation we need to build a world without fear and the prejudices that arise from it. Goodness is goodness. The prophets who reveal the truth and its goodness are gifts to the community, not threats. Trust allows us to listen, to follow and make the changes we need to be formed into Christ, who himself rose above the culture of his time.

Is this work easy? No. Is it life giving? Most certainly it is. When we remove fear, we remove what separates and divides us, and we live in greater freedom of heart, mind and soul. This is the work of conversion, and today we meet the Jesus who heals our blindness. I pray that like the blind man in today’s gospel, we may experience the Lord’s healing power and come to praise him, as his image is brought to perfection in us.

In Christ's Peace, Fr. Leo