Pope Francis on March 22, 2020, parsed the gospel of the day, the well-known story of the healing of a man blind from birth from the ninth chapter of John’s Gospel. At the core of the story: light.
The Holy Father’s commentary came before praying the Angelus from the Library of the Apostolic Vatican Palace, the site of the broadcast of such events during the coronavirus pandemic.
“At the center of the Liturgy, of this Fourth Sunday of Lent, is the theme of light,” the Pope explained. “The Gospel (Cf. John 9:1-41) narrates the episode of the blind man from birth, to whom Jesus gives sight.
“This miraculous sign is the confirmation of the affirmation of Jesus who says of Himself: ‘I am the Light of the world”'(v. 5), the light that illuminates our darkness. Jesus is so.”
Pope Francis explained that Jesus provides light in two respects. First, there is the physical; he enables the blind to so. Second, there is the spiritual; the now-sighted man believes in Jesus.
“May we also be able to have this experience! With the light of faith, he who was blind discovers his new identity,” Francis said. “The healed blind man, who now sees with the eyes of the body as well as of the soul, is the image of every baptized person that, immersed in Grace, has been torn from the darkness and placed in the light of faith.
“However, it’s not enough to receive the light, one must become light. Every one of us is called to receive the divine light to manifest it with our whole life.”
The Holy Father’s Full Commentary
