Lenten Reflection
“Reflection for the fourth week of Lent” 
Lloyd Thiel, Capuchin
As we continue the fourth week of our journey of Lent, the Scriptures for the 4th Sunday are quite challenging. The prophet Samuel certainly fell into the habit of judging by appearances. He was to anoint the next king of Israel and felt convinced that Jesse’s oldest son was surely God’s choice since he had lofty stature. But God rejected him and choose young David whose greatest quality was a good and compassionate heart. I do think it is wise for each of us to look at how often we judge others based on external appearances along. We don’t take the time to look within individuals and situations to find how effectively the spirit of justice and compassion is at work or is totally lacking.
In St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians he is begging the people to consider if their hearts are filled with the light of Christ that will fulfill every kind of justice, of goodness and truth. Again the challenge is to face our own inner spirit and the contact this spirit has with the light of Christ. To be journeying without this, would be like the blind leading the blind!
And all of this is climaxed by Jesus’ healing of the blind man as told in the Gospel of John. In the opinion of so many who were observing what was happening, they didn’t really think that this man was the one who deserved the gift of sight. They simply did not grasp that the miracle of Jesus was a miracle of faith and inner vision. The lesson for us is that we need to cultivate the priority of our heart and walk on a road that will discover some truly wonderful surprises of beauty in others that we have so often missed.
May this be our challenge for this week of Lent!
Amen.