March 17, 2026 • 12 mins
Since the Scriptures for the 4th Sunday of Lent are packed with meaning., Father, Louis Gives Give two homilies for this Sunday As we commemorate the man born blind who becomes an evangelist.
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SPEAKER_00 (00:04):
This is John's gospel, and we've been using a
lot of John through Lent thisseason.
And we hear the word sign overand over in the scriptures
today, because John doesn'trefer to the miracles of Jesus
that we refer to as miracles.
(00:24):
He refers to them as signs.
And this is the fourth of thegreat signs.
The first one we all know asCana, when Jesus made water into
wine for the wedding feast.
And that was when John gave usthat description, he said, this
is the first of Jesus' signs.
There is so much in the gospeland scriptures today, it's
(00:50):
unbelievable.
Signs, misjudgment, makingjudgments things you don't see,
misinterpretations, living inthe darkness, living in the
light.
And any one of those themes, andthere's more, can give us enough
information to carry us to thewhole season of Lent.
(01:13):
The power of Jesus saying, I'mthe light of the world, and I
came to bring light to adarkened world.
That alone is powerful.
But there's more to thescriptures.
And of course, the main themetoday in the gospel is sight.
(01:33):
But sometimes it's not aboutthis kind of sight from our
eyes.
Sometimes it's about a differentkind of sight.
Sight that comes from faith,insight.
When the man, whose name wedon't know, by the way, was
questioned back and forth thePharisees.
You know him, he's a friend ofyours, you're a follower.
The guy said, No, I don't knowhim.
(01:55):
He just came up to me and healedme.
Well, he must be a magicalperson or a magician because
nobody can do that unless he'sfrom God.
But this guy's a sinner becausehe did this thing to you on a
Saturday.
Misinterpretation on top ofmisinterpretation.
The Old Testament story today isabout a great pick.
(02:18):
A great pick.
The pick was for the leader ofthe people of Israel.
So the prophet Samuel is sent.
Don't forget, scriptures todayhave so many messages in between
the lines.
The prophet was sent to thehouse of Jesse.
(02:41):
Jesus sends the man to Siloam.
The name of the pool of Siloammeans sent.
So a lot of action going on.
Now, please don't take this asstories in the Old Testament and
stories in the Gospels thatdon't have anything to do with
us.
Because they're specificallyalive, because this is the
(03:02):
living word of God, and we arebeing gifted by these scriptures
today.
So at the end of our reflectiontoday, we are all sent, as we
have been sent from the momentof our baptism to today.
We're all sent out.
And what was the blind man sentto do?
(03:24):
Yeah, he was sent to clean hiseyes and get the mud out of his
eyes, but he turns out havingbeen sent to proclaim Jesus, to
proclaim his faith, and doesn'treally know who Jesus is.
Imagine being blind from birth,and the first people, first
person you see is Jesus.
(03:45):
He opens your eyes.
Now, you don't know who Jesus isbecause you're blind.
So he was sent after that backto the Pharisees to proclaim his
faith in Jesus.
I don't know who he is, but hemust be good because he healed
me.
So the theme of sent.
So Samuel the great prophet issent to the family of Jesse.
(04:10):
Jesse has eight sons.
And one is better than theother.
I mean, who's talented, who'sbig, who's rugged, who's
powerful.
They all have tasks and they'reall very unique.
So God says to Samuel, go tothat family because the next
great person who's going to bethe king of Israel will come
(04:33):
from that group.
So he goes.
When he goes, he meets up withthe family and he says to Jesse,
the father, something's wronghere.
My boys are here.
You want to meet my boys?
There they are, one to seven.
No, I don't have it.
There's something missing.
(04:54):
Now, that's another thing thatwe should be aware of.
The many ways God can speak tous.
The many ways we have theability to see God in our lives.
The prophet couldn't do it.
Something's missing.
I don't have the urge.
I don't have the vibe.
(05:15):
Something's missing.
I see these guys, but God is notinspiring me to call any of them
forth.
What he was going to do when hegets the right kid, he's going
to anoint him with oil.
Now, in the scriptures we callit the horn of anointing.
They kept the holy oil in ahorn, an animal's horn.
(05:37):
They put a cap on it, put abottom on it on the bottom, and
they would put oil in there, andthen when there was time to use
the oil to anoint, which meantset apart a person or a thing,
they would pour the oil from thehorn.
So the horn of plenty, the hornof justice.
And the many powerful phrasescome from that idea of the horn.
(05:59):
So Jesse says, okay, I do haveanother kid.
He's out in the fields.
It's little David.
I mean, he's like maybe 12 yearsold, maybe 13.
Um, and he's he's unique, he's alittle different.
Um we we send him out to thefield because he plays music, he
plays on his harp, and heentertains the animals.
(06:23):
So, you know, so we don't pay alot of attention to him.
He's out there.
Another phrase from thescriptures don't judge in your
eyes.
Because what you judge from youreyes is different than how God
judges.
Wow.
That wasn't written today, thatwas written thousands of years
(06:46):
ago, and the truth is still thesame.
How often we judge one anotherand make a mistake.
And the great prophet taught thefather, these kids don't judge.
So he's a little on the on,maybe he's on the on the
spectrum, but he's still a kid,he's still one of the family,
(07:08):
and and he has more talent thanyou can imagine, maybe hidden
inside.
Maybe he has to be encouraged tobring out his talent.
Call him.
So he comes in, and he's askinny little kid, you know,
with his harp, probably, becausehe used to have a harp to play
music to the animals and sing tothem.
(07:30):
As a matter of fact, the psalmwe use today, and all the
psalms, are attributed to thisguy, to David.
He's the one we attribute allthe psalms today.
He's the one who composed thepsalms that are in the
scriptures today.
And today was a great one.
The Lord is my shepherd.
So he calls him in, and Godspeaks.
(07:51):
There's another thing we got toremember.
God's speaking to us, to all ofus.
He doesn't necessarily speak toour ears.
Sometimes he speaks to ourhearts, our memories, our
dreams.
God has, he's God.
He can speak to us any way hewants.
And because I didn't hear it ina certain way, it doesn't mean
(08:14):
he didn't speak to me.
No, he spoke to Samuel in prayerand said, This is the one,
David.
Anoint him, pour the oil on him,and he's going to be the leader
of my people.
Out of the ordinary.
(08:34):
This kid shouldn't have been theone, because he's not powerful,
he's not strong, he's not ofgreat intelligence.
He's a little kid in playing hisharp in the fields.
And the Holy Spirit rushes onhim.
Beautiful way of hearing that.
Holy Spirit rushes on David.
(08:59):
The Spirit of God is that sameperson that rushed on David, and
he rushes on us.
The Spirit of God came to us atour baptisms, confirmation,
whenever we received theEucharist.
The Spirit of God is in us,inspiring us to do God's will,
(09:23):
sending us, like Siloam, to doGod's will.
And at times we just don'tappreciate it because it didn't
come the way it should come.
I don't know what way it shouldcome, but it didn't come the way
it should come to me, the HolySpirit.
So the Spirit of God rushes uponDavid, and he's anointed, and he
(09:47):
becomes the great king of thepeople of Israel.
The story doesn't end there,because what he does and his
accomplishments continue tobring the people of Israel
closer to God.
The man from Siloam, whose eyesare open, continues, not in
(10:09):
blindness, but in sight, to doGod's will.
And of course, it's summarizedso well in the scriptures with
the letter to the Ephesians,which is probably, later on,
read it again, probably a songthat was sung at a baptism of a
Christian.
And what is the song talkingabout?
(10:31):
You are children ofrighteousness.
You are children of the light.
He's not talking about 2,000years ago.
He's talking about us.
We're here to hear God's word.
And God says to us, Wake up, Osleeper, arise from the dead.
Christ gives you light.
(10:53):
Every one of us is sent todaywith that light to see God in
the world, to bring God to theworld, through our love, through
our actions, through ourpatience.
And it happens everywhere.
Don't expect it to happen onlyin church.
It happens on the streets, onBroadway, and Houston.
(11:17):
It happens in our clubs, ourbars, it could happen in your
families, it could happen inchurch.
It happens when I love someone.
It has happens when I havecompassion on someone.
God sending every one of us todo his will.
And we have to summarize God'swill.
(11:40):
It's Jesus.
Loving one another as he lovesus.
You are sent.
Make no bones about it.
The Holy Spirit is upon us.
Get out there and bring his holywill and love to everyone you
know.
This is John's gospel, and we've been using a
lot of John through Lent thisseason.
And we hear the word sign overand over in the scriptures
today, because John doesn'trefer to the miracles of Jesus
that we refer to as miracles.
(00:24):
He refers to them as signs.
And this is the fourth of thegreat signs.
The first one we all know asCana, when Jesus made water into
wine for the wedding feast.
And that was when John gave usthat description, he said, this
is the first of Jesus' signs.
There is so much in the gospeland scriptures today, it's
(00:50):
unbelievable.
Signs, misjudgment, makingjudgments things you don't see,
misinterpretations, living inthe darkness, living in the
light.
And any one of those themes, andthere's more, can give us enough
information to carry us to thewhole season of Lent.
(01:13):
The power of Jesus saying, I'mthe light of the world, and I
came to bring light to adarkened world.
That alone is powerful.
But there's more to thescriptures.
And of course, the main themetoday in the gospel is sight.
(01:33):
But sometimes it's not aboutthis kind of sight from our
eyes.
Sometimes it's about a differentkind of sight.
Sight that comes from faith,insight.
When the man, whose name wedon't know, by the way, was
questioned back and forth thePharisees.
You know him, he's a friend ofyours, you're a follower.
The guy said, No, I don't knowhim.
(01:55):
He just came up to me and healedme.
Well, he must be a magicalperson or a magician because
nobody can do that unless he'sfrom God.
But this guy's a sinner becausehe did this thing to you on a
Saturday.
Misinterpretation on top ofmisinterpretation.
The Old Testament story today isabout a great pick.
(02:18):
A great pick.
The pick was for the leader ofthe people of Israel.
So the prophet Samuel is sent.
Don't forget, scriptures todayhave so many messages in between
the lines.
The prophet was sent to thehouse of Jesse.
(02:41):
Jesus sends the man to Siloam.
The name of the pool of Siloammeans sent.
So a lot of action going on.
Now, please don't take this asstories in the Old Testament and
stories in the Gospels thatdon't have anything to do with
us.
Because they're specificallyalive, because this is the
(03:02):
living word of God, and we arebeing gifted by these scriptures
today.
So at the end of our reflectiontoday, we are all sent, as we
have been sent from the momentof our baptism to today.
We're all sent out.
And what was the blind man sentto do?
(03:24):
Yeah, he was sent to clean hiseyes and get the mud out of his
eyes, but he turns out havingbeen sent to proclaim Jesus, to
proclaim his faith, and doesn'treally know who Jesus is.
Imagine being blind from birth,and the first people, first
person you see is Jesus.
(03:45):
He opens your eyes.
Now, you don't know who Jesus isbecause you're blind.
So he was sent after that backto the Pharisees to proclaim his
faith in Jesus.
I don't know who he is, but hemust be good because he healed
me.
So the theme of sent.
So Samuel the great prophet issent to the family of Jesse.
(04:10):
Jesse has eight sons.
And one is better than theother.
I mean, who's talented, who'sbig, who's rugged, who's
powerful.
They all have tasks and they'reall very unique.
So God says to Samuel, go tothat family because the next
great person who's going to bethe king of Israel will come
(04:33):
from that group.
So he goes.
When he goes, he meets up withthe family and he says to Jesse,
the father, something's wronghere.
My boys are here.
You want to meet my boys?
There they are, one to seven.
No, I don't have it.
There's something missing.
(04:54):
Now, that's another thing thatwe should be aware of.
The many ways God can speak tous.
The many ways we have theability to see God in our lives.
The prophet couldn't do it.
Something's missing.
I don't have the urge.
I don't have the vibe.
(05:15):
Something's missing.
I see these guys, but God is notinspiring me to call any of them
forth.
What he was going to do when hegets the right kid, he's going
to anoint him with oil.
Now, in the scriptures we callit the horn of anointing.
They kept the holy oil in ahorn, an animal's horn.
(05:37):
They put a cap on it, put abottom on it on the bottom, and
they would put oil in there, andthen when there was time to use
the oil to anoint, which meantset apart a person or a thing,
they would pour the oil from thehorn.
So the horn of plenty, the hornof justice.
And the many powerful phrasescome from that idea of the horn.
(05:59):
So Jesse says, okay, I do haveanother kid.
He's out in the fields.
It's little David.
I mean, he's like maybe 12 yearsold, maybe 13.
Um, and he's he's unique, he's alittle different.
Um we we send him out to thefield because he plays music, he
plays on his harp, and heentertains the animals.
(06:23):
So, you know, so we don't pay alot of attention to him.
He's out there.
Another phrase from thescriptures don't judge in your
eyes.
Because what you judge from youreyes is different than how God
judges.
Wow.
That wasn't written today, thatwas written thousands of years
(06:46):
ago, and the truth is still thesame.
How often we judge one anotherand make a mistake.
And the great prophet taught thefather, these kids don't judge.
So he's a little on the on,maybe he's on the on the
spectrum, but he's still a kid,he's still one of the family,
(07:08):
and and he has more talent thanyou can imagine, maybe hidden
inside.
Maybe he has to be encouraged tobring out his talent.
Call him.
So he comes in, and he's askinny little kid, you know,
with his harp, probably, becausehe used to have a harp to play
music to the animals and sing tothem.
(07:30):
As a matter of fact, the psalmwe use today, and all the
psalms, are attributed to thisguy, to David.
He's the one we attribute allthe psalms today.
He's the one who composed thepsalms that are in the
scriptures today.
And today was a great one.
The Lord is my shepherd.
So he calls him in, and Godspeaks.
(07:51):
There's another thing we got toremember.
God's speaking to us, to all ofus.
He doesn't necessarily speak toour ears.
Sometimes he speaks to ourhearts, our memories, our
dreams.
God has, he's God.
He can speak to us any way hewants.
And because I didn't hear it ina certain way, it doesn't mean
(08:14):
he didn't speak to me.
No, he spoke to Samuel in prayerand said, This is the one,
David.
Anoint him, pour the oil on him,and he's going to be the leader
of my people.
Out of the ordinary.
(08:34):
This kid shouldn't have been theone, because he's not powerful,
he's not strong, he's not ofgreat intelligence.
He's a little kid in playing hisharp in the fields.
And the Holy Spirit rushes onhim.
Beautiful way of hearing that.
Holy Spirit rushes on David.
(08:59):
The Spirit of God is that sameperson that rushed on David, and
he rushes on us.
The Spirit of God came to us atour baptisms, confirmation,
whenever we received theEucharist.
The Spirit of God is in us,inspiring us to do God's will,
(09:23):
sending us, like Siloam, to doGod's will.
And at times we just don'tappreciate it because it didn't
come the way it should come.
I don't know what way it shouldcome, but it didn't come the way
it should come to me, the HolySpirit.
So the Spirit of God rushes uponDavid, and he's anointed, and he
(09:47):
becomes the great king of thepeople of Israel.
The story doesn't end there,because what he does and his
accomplishments continue tobring the people of Israel
closer to God.
The man from Siloam, whose eyesare open, continues, not in
(10:09):
blindness, but in sight, to doGod's will.
And of course, it's summarizedso well in the scriptures with
the letter to the Ephesians,which is probably, later on,
read it again, probably a songthat was sung at a baptism of a
Christian.
And what is the song talkingabout?
(10:31):
You are children ofrighteousness.
You are children of the light.
He's not talking about 2,000years ago.
He's talking about us.
We're here to hear God's word.
And God says to us, Wake up, Osleeper, arise from the dead.
Christ gives you light.
(10:53):
Every one of us is sent todaywith that light to see God in
the world, to bring God to theworld, through our love, through
our actions, through ourpatience.
And it happens everywhere.
Don't expect it to happen onlyin church.
It happens on the streets, onBroadway, and Houston.
(11:17):
It happens in our clubs, ourbars, it could happen in your
families, it could happen inchurch.
It happens when I love someone.
It has happens when I havecompassion on someone.
God sending every one of us todo his will.
And we have to summarize God'swill.
(11:40):
It's Jesus.
Loving one another as he lovesus.
You are sent.
Make no bones about it.
The Holy Spirit is upon us.
Get out there and bring his holywill and love to everyone you
know.
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