Download March 30 -- 4th Sunday Lent - The Churches of St. Mary and St. Henry

A few years ago I was finishing up Masses for the weekend. I was tired, it was cold and windy
outside, so it was a good day to just take a long afternoon nap. As I was leaving, I noticed
something push against the door outside. There was a dog hunched in the corner against the
building. It was a little lapdog—cold and shivering, obviously hungry and quite a bit afraid. It
had a collar on, so I figured I would check it to see whose dog it was and help it find its way
home. But as I approached it, it growled and snapped at me. It wanted to bite me, even though
all I wanted was to help it. As much as I tried, this dog wouldn’t let me near it. So I wasn’t able
to help. I thought I would at least get a bowl of food and put it out for him, but by the time I got
back outside, the dog was gone. This dog did what our natural instinct is when we’re afraid—to
go into defense mode, to protect ourselves from harm. We lash out, we lie, or maybe we just run
away from the threat. But Jesus offers us a better way—through His grace, we receive power
and courage and strength.
In the Gospel today we have a man who was born blind. What seemed incurable was cured
miraculously by Jesus. Never having been able to see, now he sees. And when questioned by
the authorities—some may say, even intimidated by them—the man’s unable to give any
explanation for how Jesus did it. The man didn’t even know what Jesus looked like, since he
wasn’t around when he came back from the pool of Siloam. He just responds with what he
knows to be true: “I was blind, and now I see. And Jesus did this for me.” No matter how
intimidating the Pharisees were, he didn’t back down. In fact, the more they pressed him, the
deeper his belief in Jesus became. They say, “What do you have to say about this man Jesus?”
“He’s a prophet.” And later, when the authorities punish the man for believing and when he
finally encounters Jesus face-to-face, that faith deepens even more, and he can profess, “Jesus,
you are Lord!”
It takes courage to speak the truth, especially when we can’t explain the why’s and the how’s to
people who want an explanation, and especially when we don’t understand it completely
ourselves. St. Thomas Aquinas is quoted as saying: “To one who has faith, no explanation is
necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” If you believe what you say you
believe about Christ, you’re not going to back down and you’re not going to abandon the truth,
no matter what. But you’re going to pursue the answers to your questions, delving ever deeper
into the mysteries of our faith.
Fear, however, can creep into our hearts. It’s a human reaction to any threat. The man’s parents
in the Gospel, when they were brought in for questioning, believed that Jesus healed their son.
But they wouldn’t say that because they were afraid of being thrown out of the synagogue. Fear
can keep us from speaking the truth. Fear, I would say, has been the cause of more fruitless
evangelization than anything else, when we simply don’t say anything at all because we’re
scared how others will react.
But it’s so often the case that when our faith is tested, when we’re put into that frightening
position of having to defend our faith, that our faith is actually strengthened. We become
stronger Catholics as a result. When I was a kid, I received a lot of anti-Catholic prejudice since
I lived in a very non-Catholic area in Kentucky. But the more I was pressed about my faith, the
more I went back to study it. And I ended up a stronger Catholic as the result of something that
others thought would weaken my faith. I think we’re seeing something similar happening as the
result of the media coverage of the scandals in our Church—some of the coverage is valid
information that needs to get out there, but that constant attack on the Church that we see has
actually strengthened the faith of many, because it makes us look at our faith again and really ask
the questions, “Where have I placed my faith, in man or in Christ?” and “Do I really believe in
the grace offered by Jesus in His Church?” Many have answered those questions with a
resounding, “I do believe, Lord. I believe in You, and I will follow You in Your Holy Church.”
When our faith is threatened, God strengthens us and gives us courage to go out there and defend
it.
But we have to start somewhere. We begin out of our weakness and our fear. St. Paul said that
“God did not give us a spirit of fear…He didn’t give us a spirit of cowardice…He gave us a
spirit of strength and courage and power” (cf. 2 Timothy 1:7). The man today experienced this
sudden rush of courage surge through him, so that he was able to defy the authorities by
professing faith in Jesus. He was open to the Spirit of God, who “comes to the aid of our
weakness” (Romans 8:26). And it’s through Him that we receive grace upon grace, strength
upon strength, and faith upon faith. More and more will be given to the one who has, so long as
we’re willing to step out of our comfort zone just a bit. He more than makes up for what is
lacking, and He encourages us to grow in our understanding and our discipleship.
So when others challenge you or question you, don’t be afraid to speak out about your faith in
Jesus Christ for fear of what they might say or do or think, even if you don’t have all the
answers. Only a Pharisee demands an explanation before they’re willing to believe. But use that
moment to call upon the strength and courage of the Lord, as the man born blind did—to profess,
“This is what I believe. I may not know right now the how’s or the why’s, but I will not back
down from my belief in the dignity of every human life from conception to natural death, the
sacredness of Christian marriage, the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, the
forgiveness of sins through the Sacrament of Confession, or the Death and Resurrection of
Christ. I will profess that to my dying day, and God willing, one day I may even come to
understand it better.”