The Sunday we continue with the three wonderful stories from John’s Gospel. These stories are used every year for RCIA because they are filled with images of baptism, confirmation, and conversion. I am not going to talk about that today exactly. Instead, I want to muse on a phrase that stood out to me in the 1 Samuel reading that links to the Gospel of the man born blind. The phrase is “Do don’t judge from…appearances… Not as man sees does God see.” And the man in the Gospel is blind, but is he blind in the sense of physical sight, or blind in the sense that he does not see as God see? The man is not named, so our pastor would say that we are him. Given that, what am I missing in the world? What don’t I see that God sees, and an even bigger question is, why don’t I see it? As I go through my day, do I see each person I encounter as God’s beloved child? They are! Do I take the time to listen to birds, smell flowers, and gaze at the stars with the realization that they are the masterpieces of God’s fingers? They are! Or more likely, do I just blunder through my day concerned only with myself? Today, I will try to see as God sees—the good and beautiful in all creation. Time to take off my dark glasses.
