Lent - Once Was Blind - Now I See

"Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, 

because I have rejected him.

Not as man sees does God see, 

because man sees the appearance 

but the LORD looks into the heart."

Our readings this Sunday are all about vision. First, we read about David being anointed the king of Israel.  One at a time Jesse's sons came before the prophet and while each of them made a splendid appearance, none of them was the one God had in mind. Finally, they called the youngest one in from the field.  David had been out tending the sheep. When David appeared before the prophet, God made it known that this was His chosen one and David was promptly anointed king of Israel. 

Our Gospel reading is the one about the man born blind and how Jesus made a paste of clay, rubbed it on the man's eyes and sent him to wash and the man born blind could see! 

God's vision is perfect. He does not look at the exterior of a person. He reads what is in their heart. How often do we judge others using our myopic human vision?  Often times our judgment is clouded by our prejudices. We have to learn to see others as God sees them. God loves every one of his children without exception.  When we apply our judgment we should err on the side of charity.  There is a story I read once about Brother Bernard who lives in a monastery. Whenever someone criticized someone else in his presence he would answer:

"Wouldn't it be funny if he is closer to God than we are?"