Sunday March
30, 2014 / Lent, 4th
Sunday of Lent @ 11:30 am
Mass – Mass of Pastor Installation
Title: Advantages of Darkness
[__01__] The
Gospel this Sunday is about blindness and vision, darkness and light.
I am grateful to the parish
staff of Our Lady of Lourdes, to our Trustees (Dan Galate and Peg Shelley), our
Finance and Pastoral Council to shed light, to illuminate me … to our Parish
Anniversary Committee under whose leadership we marched together 2 weeks ago in
our West Orange St. Patrick’s Day Parade… and in honor of Monsignor Joe
Petrillo’s dream of celebrating 100 years at Lourdes.
To you, Bishop Donato, as a
mentor and pastor to me both in the seminary and at St. Henry’s in Bayonne …
where I learned many valuable lessons about our ministry …and to Archbishop
Myers and to Msgr. Emery, our regional vicar for Essex County and Father James
Manos, our dean, for their direction to me and for their care and concern for
our people after the sudden loss of Monsignor Petrillo. Father Edson and I will
always be grateful.
To my family, by whom I am
often led from darkness to light… Thank you …
The Gospel
this Sunday is about blindness and vision, darkness and light.
[__02__] Is darkness an advantage or a disadvantage?
In the Gospel
this Sunday, we are read about a man
born blind and this man’s encounter with our Lord and Savior. This man is an adult, say at least 20 years
of age, perhaps older. For 20 years, 30
years, 40 years or more, his eyes have been closed.
Regarding this
man without sight and regarding others who do have sight, Jesus says,
“I came into
this world … so that those who do NOT see might [be able to ] see … and … that those who do see might become
blind.” (John 9:39)
In other
words, those in darkness would have the advantage over those who claim to be in
the light, to be illuminated, to be enlightened.
Sometimes,
darkness gives us an advantage.
Consider …
- Students in
classrooms, trying to answer difficult questions on final exams, we would
close our eyes.
- Players, Olympic
athletes or anyone about to make a complicated move or turn … they close
their eyes just before the race starts
How was the
darkness an advantage to the blind man of the Gospel? How could darkness be an advantage for you
and me?
[__03__] 1. SAFETY. Darkness
gives the advantage of safety. There is the
cover or the safety of darkness. This may be literal darkness of night falling
or just the figurative darkness of a secret being kept.
In the NCAA basketball
tournament, each team tries to keep the other in the dark about their offense
and defense and press.
In our own
lives, we feel safer knowing certain accounts and files and information are
locked up. We may discuss this information
very selectively, very carefully with certain people. We feel safer, knowing we can close our eyes during horror movies... Darkness =
safety and security.
[__04__] Darkness brings us closer to other people. This is not
only true for blackout conditions and power outages.
Darkness
brings us closer to God’s presence.
Recently, we
gathered for 9 nights of prayer in our annual St. Joseph Novena and for 3
nights in our Triduum to Our Lady of Lourdes.
We were
gathering at these times to examine our lives …
[__05__] Many of us here remember our beloved pastor,
Monsignor Joe Petrillo – Father Joe Petrillo -
for his commitment to prayer and God’s presence…
We knew …but
not everyone always knew what Monsignor and Father Joe was doing..
He told me this
story … and perhaps you may have heard it too … it was at a family gathering –
in the house – where he was celebrating Mass.
He brought the altar and sacrament to his family at home. His mother,
father, aunts, uncles cousins were adjusting to this special environment for
Sunday Mass…
But, Father
Joe was just being himself – right after Mass started and during the first
reading, he sat down to listen and he closed his eyes…which provoked questions
from his very “observant” family ….
“Joe…
Joe…what are you doing…why are your eyes closed? What’s happening? What are we
supposed to do… now?”
Father Joe
was only trying to bring them closer together in prayer.
Darkness can
bring us closer together… but it is sometimes misinterpreted.
[__06__] Darkness
can also bring us closer to God and to a better understanding of the Gospel.
In darkness,
in solitude with God, we need not fear.
As we read in
Psalm 27, The Lord will conceal me under the cover of his tent (Psalm
27:5). In this darkness, we can reveal
our plans to him and know his for us.
The man born
blind displays this same faith.
Meanwhile,
those with sight and light behave differently.
- The Pharisees –
apparently enlightened – feel threatened by the presence of Jesus.
- The parents of the man
born blind – also with 20/20 vision physically – are afraid to be
associated with Jesus and are afraid of the Pharisees.
The man with
the greatest confidence in God is the one who cannot see.
Darkness brings
us closer to our Savior.
[__07__] Do we, however, always experience “darkness”
as an advantage…. ?
Sometimes,
darkness puts at a disadvantage …
Sinfulness –
our personal sins – can turn the lights out, cut us off, leave us in the dark.
Discovering
our faults can be a time of doubt, uncertainty …or if we were hurt / injured by
the sin, the fault of someone else, we may be in the dark.
Yet, this
dark place is exactly where the Lord meets us. It is from an emotionally dark
place in another country, the Prodigal Son returns home. It is well after closing time… at night,
when the Messiah is born in Bethlehem
In our faith
journey, it is darkest before the dawn.
Also, the
darkness of sin invites us to consider God/Jesus Christ as the real light of
the world.
If we
continue in a particularly sinful, selfish way, the lights may be on…but, as we
say… is anybody home?
Continuing
down a path of sin, could I not be blinded by the brightness of comfort, convenience,
or a false independence?
Meanwhile,
repentance …which sometimes requires closing our eyes, reflection… darkness… is
what offers us real light and Jesus as the light of the world, your world, my
world. This is mercy and grace.
I offer you
the words of Psalm 139..which remind us, of the constant light
of Christ within us … this was the light that the blind man of the Gospel knew
as his real advantage, as his salvation.
We read in
Psalm 139 this prayer to God, “even darkness is not dark for you and night
shines as clear as the day.” (Psalm 139:12)
[__fin__]
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