Daily Gospel Reflection
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March 22, 2020
As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth.
He spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.
The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.”
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.”
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”
They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.
Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.”
Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.
Why would St. John include Jesus’ specific instruction of washing “in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent)”? Was it perhaps to provide a visual for his readers? Was Siloam a particularly holy place? Or was the evangelist just giving a hint about what we should take from this story? As is often the case in John’s writing, it is likely all these things simultaneously.
One way to read this episode is as a roadmap for how we all become apostles, or those “sent” by God into the world. First, Jesus’ use of clay and spit evokes the creation in Genesis. Jesus, as the Son of God, was equally as present then as he was to the blind man on that day. That is to say, Jesus knows us personally for he shaped us and so calls us to follow him.
Second, the reference to bathing in water should remind us of our Baptism, through which we are washed clean and set on the path to discipleship. Not only that, but John’s reference to Siloam evokes another episode in the Gospel where Jesus was at this very pool (Jn. 7:37-39). There, Jesus says, “Whoever believes in me, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” Our Baptism infuses us with sacramental grace that animates our lives. The one who bathes in the waters as Jesus says is one from whom flows the “rivers of living water.” We actually become conduits of God’s grace in the world.
Third, we – just like the man whom Jesus has cleansed and healed – now witness to the Truth that we experienced. As the man says to the Pharisees, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” A simple, beautiful profession of faith. May we do the same each day!
Prayer
Dear God, too often in our arrogance we forget that we, too, are blind from birth, not through any fault but because we are not fully in communion with you and all creation. We see only what we expect. Cure us of this blindness that we might see with your divine eyes and grow toward truth as it becomes revealed to us. Our prayer today is “Lord that I might see. More clearly. More nearly. More dearly. Day by day.” Amen.
Saint of the Day
Nicholas Owen was a lay man who attached himself to the community of Jesuits living in London in the late 1500s. England, at that time, was suppressing and persecuting Catholics, and Nicholas was a skilled carpenter who built many secret passages and compartments in homes that were used to hide priests.
He was arrested with other Jesuits in 1594 and imprisoned in the London Tower where he was tortured in an attempt to make him give up names and locations of his Catholic friends and Jesuit brothers. He refused, and a wealthy Catholic family ransomed him from prison. The authorities let him go, thinking he was an insignificant associate of the other Jesuits they had captured.
Nicholas returned to engineer the escape of the Jesuit priest who was imprisoned with him and also being tortured. Nicholas also arranged for the escape of their guard, whom they had befriended, because he would face punishment for their flight. Nicholas strung a rope to the tower across a moat, and they successfully got away.
Nicholas was of very small stature, and people called him “Little John.” He was, nevertheless, very strong, as much of his work had him breaking through thick stonework. He worked at night and alone, and always kept his devices and designs a secret. Authorities could search a home for a week, punching holes in walls and pulling up floors, and still not find his hiding places.
Once, when authorities were close to discovering some priests who were in hiding, Nicholas turned himself in to divert their attention. This time, the captors knew who it was they had arrested, and they tortured him again. Nicholas refused to give up any information, and he died from those injuries in 1606.
St. Nicholas of Owen was canonized in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Nicholas Owen, the cunning carpenter who saved persecuted priests by building secret passages—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Nicholas Owen is an illustration by Notre Dame alumnus Matthew Alderman '06, who holds exclusive rights to the further distribution and publication of his art. Used here with permission.