A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet.  He held up a sign which said: “I am blind, please help.”  There were only a few coins in the hat.  A man was walking by.  He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat.  He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words.  He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words. Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were.  The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning?  What did you write?” The man said, “I only wrote the truth.  I said what you said but in a different way. “I wrote: ‘Today is a beautiful day; but I cannot see it.'”  Both signs told people that the boy was blind. The second sign reminded people how fortunate they were to have their sight. In today’s Gospel, we hear the story of the man born blind. This story is about something very simple: learning to see. When Jesus places the mud on the blind mans eyes he tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. The man does what he is told, and when he washes, he can see. It is a beautiful moment. For the first time in his life, he sees the world: the sky, the faces of people, the light of day. But that miracle is only the beginning of the story. As the Gospel continues, something interesting happens. The man who was blind begins to understand more and more about who Jesus is. His physical sight is restored immediately, but his faith grows gradually.While this mans faith grows, the Pharisees are the ones who are really blind. They refuse to see what God is doing right in front of them. So the great message of this Gospel is that true blindness is not about our eyes. It is about our hearts. A person may have perfect eyesight and still fail to see what really matters. We can fail to see God’s presence in our lives. We can fail to see the goodness in other people. We can fail to see the needs of those around us. That is why this Gospel speaks to all of us. In different ways, we all have areas of blindness.

• Sometimes we judge people too quickly.
• Sometimes we see only faults and not goodness.
• Sometimes we become so certain that we are right that we stop listening to God.

But the good news of the Gospel is this: Jesus wants to open our eyes. Just as he gave sight to the man born blind, he wants to give us a clearer vision of life – helping us see God at work, helping us see others with compassion, helping us see the truth of the Gospel. And that is what Lent is really about. Lent is a time when Christ gently opens our eyes again. Through prayer, through reflection, through the Word of God, he helps us see what truly matters. Perhaps our prayer this week could be very simple:

“Lord, help me to see.”

• Help me to see your presence in my life.
• Help me to see the needs of others.
• Help me to see with faith, hope, and love.

And if we ask for that gift, then little by little our vision will become clearer. Like the man in the Gospel, we will come to recognise Christ more deeply. And we too will be able to say with gratitude: “I was blind but now I see”