April 4, 2025 - Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Artist Sister Mary of the Compassion, OP (1908-1977)

Of all the men I have lived with in rectories over my career, one in particular stands out: he was a transitional deacon, and he was assigned to our parish in the Summer of 1988, and he was blind. I learned a great deal that summer about blindness and about the ingenious ways the blind compensated to be able “to see.”  

I was in the habit of parking my car in front of the rectory. We came out one morning to go over to church for Mass, and he commented to me that my car was missing. I explained that when I came home the previous night, all the parking spaces in front of the rectory were taken because of a parish meeting, and I had parked on the side of the building. Then, I stopped right there and blurted out, “Wait, you’re blind. How do you know my car is missing?” He explained that ordinarily the presence of my car muffled the noise of the traffic on the street, but that morning the street noise was louder and sharper, so he presumed my car was absent from its usual spot. I was fascinated and a little in awe. 

If the blind go through such efforts to “see,” unfortunately the opposite is also true. Sometimes we make every effort to remain blind. We have a saying in English, that someone is “blind with rage;” this describes the situation in our Scriptures today, especially in the Book of Wisdom, as the Passion events begin to close in on Jesus, “. . . but they erred; for their wickedness blinded them.” We can all allow our vision to be blurred by anger and envy, by greed and jealousy, by pettiness, frustration, and disappointment. In that process, we become blind to “the hidden counsels of God.”  

But Lent is all about moving from darkness into light, from blindness into sight. When Christ says to us, “can you drink this cup,” He invites us, by our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to shed with his help all that blinds us to the fullness of life in Him. In Lent, it is not just the catechumens, but all of us, who are invited to move “into the awesome glory of this holy light” (Exultet).  

O God, who have prepared fitting helps for us in our weakness, grant, we pray, that we may receive their healing effects with joy and reflect them in a holy way of life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. (Roman Missal)

Rev. Msgr. Raymond Kupke, Adjunct Professor of Church History

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