Fourth Sunday of Lent – March 10, 2024

03-10-2024Weekly ReflectionRev. Mark Hellinger

I recall being in fifth grade when my teacher told my parents that I was having some problems reading what was written on the blackboard. My perceptive teacher, Mrs. Joy Agresto, noticed my squinting and my struggling to write down what was on the blackboard in that venerable grammar school, which is now known as Saint Joseph the Worker Catholic Academy. This would have been in 1982, a very long time ago.

My parents took me out to a Cohen’s Fashion Optical and I had my eyes tested. About a week later, my father took me out to the eyeglass store and I tried my glasses on the first time. I vividly recall being able to see so much better; it was like a new world of details was opened before me which I had not realized was there.

As time went on, especially as I got into my teenage years, I tried to not wear my glasses and, as one could imagine, the results were what you would expect — not really seeing what was in front of me, as I would wear my glasses at home but not at Cathedral Prep in Elmhurst, where I went for high school. By my sophomore year, at the strong suggestion of my principal, one of the kindest priests I have ever known (and if I had to put forward a saint whom I know, it would be he), Msgr. Phillip J. Reilly, I began to wear my glasses, which I needed to wear daily. Sure, I tried contact lens as a newly ordained priest, but I found myself lost without my glasses. To this date, with slightly over fifty years of life on Earth, the first thing I do in the morning when I rise to is grab my glasses. I often think back to the very first time I tried on my first pair of glasses, a little boy’s brown plastic aviator frame, I felt like I could not only see, but actually perceive.

In today’s readings from the Old Testament book of First Samuel and in the Holy Gospel according to Saint John, we read not only about seeing, but perhaps more importantly about perceiving. The great Roman Catholic apologist Bishop Robert E. Barron, in his masterpiece And Now I See: A Theology of Transformation (1998) states: “Christianity is, above all else, a way of seeing. Everything else in Christian life flows from and circles around the transformation of vision. Christians see differently, and that is why their prayer, their worship, their action, their whole way of being in in the world have a distinctive accent and flavor.” (ix)

In the first reading taken from the First Book of the Prophet Samuel, we are placed in the midst of this drama to find a new king for the people of Israel. Recall that the Lord God did not want Israel to ever have a king, because he was the King of Israel. However, Israel wanted to have a king whom they could see, like the kings of other nations. The Lord God, again and again, stated that he did not want a visible king for Israel, because he is their king. In order to remind them of this fact, the Lord God set up prophets, whose main role was to remind Israel that God and God alone is king.

Yes, the nation of Israel wanted a king whom they could see and the Lord God reminded them, time and again, that he is King and, if they choose earthly kings, things would go awry for them. Still, the nation of Israel persisted and they had a king: Saul, who has some serious emotional problems, to say the least.

Into the picture comes the great prophet Samuel, who has to anoint a new king of Israel at the Lord’s command. The only problem is that the Lord God has not told Samuel which of the sons of Jesse whom he should anoint.

As Jesse examines each son, he, as might we all in his case, sees some healthy, happy, holy young men, any of whom could easily be the next king of Israel. However, until he perceives, going beyond his mere sight, pushing beyond what is immediately presented in front of his sight, does he move beyond seeing and truly perceive who is really standing in front of him.

To the average eye, David is meek, small, and young. He is the “runt of the litter” and will win no “Mr. Universe” contests. David is a shepherd, a kid who takes care of the literal “kids,” the sheep. In the eyes of the world, he has little value, compared to his heroic and confident brothers. And yet, in the eyes of the Lord, with which the Prophet Samuel is functioning, David is seen as he is — a human being created in God’s image and likeness, one who, despite the presence of original sin, is still fundamentally good. Samuel is able to go beyond merely seeing, but actually to the level of perceiving who is really in front of him, namely the king of Israel.

In our lives, perhaps each of us needs to ask a simple question this Lent- do we see or do we perceive? Can we look at every single woman and man, every human person, whom we encounter and see them as they truly are — a beautifully created human being made in the image and likeness of God himself? Are we able to see each person whom we come across in our daily lives are fundamentally good and worthy of God’s love, God’s mercy, and God’s forgiveness? And turning to the eyes of our Christian perception inwardly, are we able to see, no, truly perceive, the image and likeness of God, our loving Father and creator in ourselves?

This week, let us ask for the grace to not only see but to perceive who it is that is really in front of us. With each soul whom we encounter, we meet someone created in the image and likeness of Christ, and someone who is fundamentally good, despite the presence of original sin (which is washed away in the Sacrament of Baptism). Let’s pray for the eyes of Samuel the Prophet, the eyes of Christ the healer, so that we can see the world as it truly is — the handiwork of God — and each woman and man as the masterpiece of God’s creation.