“Trials and tribulations offer us a chance to make reparation for our past faults and sins. On such occasions, the Lord comes to us like a physician to heal the wounds left by our sins. Tribulation is the divine medicine.” St. Augustine of Hippo

My Dearest Friends in Christ,

Today, on this fourth Sunday of Lent, the Church invites us to rejoice, for this Sunday is traditionally called Laetare Sunday, a name taken from the Latin word meaning “Rejoice.” The Entrance Antiphon for today’s Mass begins with the words “Laetare Jerusalem” “Rejoice, O Jerusalem” – and this call to joy in the midst of our Lenten journey reminds us that our penance and fasting are not an end in themselves, but a path leading to the joy of Easter. Just as a mother is encouraged mid-way through her pregnancy as she anticipates the birth of her child, so too the Church encourages us at this midpoint of Lent to lift our eyes toward the joy that awaits us at Easter. This is why the rose-colored vestments are worn today instead of the penitential purple, symbolizing a glimpse of the brightness and hope that is to come.

Today’s readings are a divine call to open our eyes, not just our physical eyes, but the eyes of our heart, the eyes of our soul, and to invite Christ into our lives so that He can restore our spiritual sight and to never, ever give up our faith in God, even when life’s misfortunes tempt us to despair. This invitation is so necessary because, as I have come to realize, we Christians do not always understand the ways of God. To be honest, the world, and even we who believe, are often far from truly comprehending who God is and how He works. That is why the Christian life is a continuous journey, a constant struggle to grow in the knowledge of God and His mysterious ways. Faith is the instrument that allows us to grasp the nature of God, especially in those places where our human reason is greatly limited. In our modern age of rationalism, we have tried to subordinate everything to the measure of human reason; we want everything to fit neatly into our own logic, and this, my friends, is precisely why we have lost our deep connection to the ways of God, whose divine standard measures everything with perfect wisdom

Looking Beyond Appearances

Consider, for instance, how this plays out in the first reading, where we see the prophet Samuel making precisely this mistake. He is sent to anoint a new king, and when he sees Eliab, a young man who is tall and impressive, Samuel is certain this must be the Lord’s chosen. He evaluates based on what he can see: height, appearance, and bearing, just as we do in our own day when we choose leaders based on physical beauty, charisma, education, and experience. But God corrects him, saying, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature… for the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” God’s scale of evaluation is based on hidden qualities, things that cannot be measured by human standards; He searches the heart, knows the secret thoughts, the true intentions, and the hidden potential of every person, and He is never mistaken in His choice. This explains why so many of the mistakes we make today, whether in choosing leaders or in making our daily decisions, happen because our evaluations are based on physical, measurable things that are often deceptive and always changing. Had God not spoken to Samuel, he would have anointed the wrong king, and this realization should lead us to see why God’s ways are different and why we absolutely need to trust in His guidance, for as the Lord declares, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.”(cf. Isaiah 55:8)

Understanding the Ways of God: The Need for Spiritual Sight

If Samuel’s story leaves us questioning our own judgment, then today’s Gospel leaves us wondering even more at how radically different God’s ways truly are. Who would ever believe that a man could be born blind specifically so that the works of God might be made visible through him? Only God could have such a plan. We can only imagine how disappointed that man’s parents were on the day they gave birth to a child who could not see; they must have been heartbroken, and perhaps, in their pain, they even questioned God. This brings us back to my earlier point about not understanding God’s ways, because we live in a world filled with mystery, and the story of this innocent man born blind is one of those mysteries. The disciples themselves tried to understand it when they saw the man and asked Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” This question is so human because it makes us feel less vulnerable if we can find a cause for misfortune; if we can blame someone’s sin, then perhaps we can avoid that sin and protect ourselves from a similar fate. The thought that misfortune might strike randomly, for no reason we can control, is terrifying, and the disciples’ question reflects an old belief from the time of Exodus that the sins of the parents could be visited upon their children. Exodus 20:5 says, “ I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me”. This thought is repeated in Exodus 34:7; Numbers 14:18; and Deuteronomy 5:9.

It May Not Be Your Fault

But Jesus gives a revolutionary answer that shatters this simplistic thinking. He says, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.” With these words, Jesus sets them free from that burden of guilt and denies that this particular man’s suffering is a direct punishment for sin; instead, He shows that suffering can become an opportunity, a space for God’s power and glory to be revealed. Now, let us be careful here, because this does not mean that there is no connection between sin and suffering. That was not true in the case of this blind man, but sin is indeed the root of so much pain in our world; not all suffering is caused by a specific sin, but all sin, without exception, causes suffering. Jesus teaches us that sin and suffering are not always linked in a direct, one-to-one way, but He does not say they are never linked, and this distinction is crucial for understanding our own trials.

Don’t Give Up: It Is So That God’s Work Might Be Made Manifest

Our feelings of helplessness, confusion, and ignorance when we face misfortune are actually an invitation for all of us to trust completely in the unfailing protection of God, who alone knows why things happen as they do. Do not imitate the Jews in the Gospel who could not believe in the power of God to make the unbelievable possible; do not be like those who remain trapped in the blindness of ignorance, searching endlessly for answers to the mysteries of life. God alone holds the key to every explanation, and to truly understand God is to trust in His absolute power to protect us, to heal us, and to bring good out of evil. If Jesus made the impossible happen in the life of that man born blind, He will make it happen in our lives too, especially in these challenging times, because He wants to heal our blindness, whatever form it may take.

This is why we must listen carefully to the words of Saint Paul in the second reading, who urges us to “learn what is pleasing to the Lord and take no part in the fruitless works of darkness.” Let us use these challenging times to heal the wounds around us: the wounds of injustice, misunderstanding, family crises, broken marriages, addictions, and all the forms of evil that have enslaved us, blinded us, and spiritually separated us from God and from our neighbor. Be a light for others and never cause darkness in anyone’s life. I encourage you, my dearest friends, during this Lenten season, to make a conscious effort to cultivate a greater knowledge of God and a deeper faith in Him. As we offer this Holy Mass, let us ask for the grace to unite our own sufferings, our own moments of blindness, to the Passion of Christ, hoping with confidence that someday, the clouds of darkness that have encircled our world and our hearts will give way to the bright, shining rays of His joy, His peace, and His final victory over sin. As Saint Francis de Sales beautifully said, “Faith is like a bright ray of sunlight. It enables us to see God in all things as well as all things in God.” May we, like the man born blind, come to see that light. Amen.

I keep you and your family always in my prayers. ©Clem C. Aladi (2026)