When we read this story of Jesus giving sight to the blind man, since we are not blind, we might think that this gospel story has no relevance for us. A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet.  He held up a sign which said: “I am blind, please help.”  There were only a few coins in the hat.   A man was walking by.  He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat.  He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words.  He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words. Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were.  The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning?  What did you write?” The man said, “I only wrote the truth.  I said what you said but in a different way. “I wrote: ‘Today is a beautiful day; but I cannot see it.'”  Both signs told people that the boy was blind. The second sign reminded people how fortunate they were to have their sight. There are different forms of blindness: physical blindness, like the boy in our story; we have colour blindness, not as tragic as physical blindness, and finally we have spiritual blindness (gospel today) this can take on two forms: people who cannot recognise Jesus as the Son of God and second, people who turn a blind eye to Jesus. Selfishness blinds us to the needs of others. Selfishness and individuality are always traps we can fall into. Insensitivity (hurtful remarks) blinds us to the hurt we’re causing to others. Snobbery blinds us to the equal dignity of others. Pride blinds us to our own faults. Prejudice and begrudgery (knocking others) blinds us to the truth. Materialism blinds us to spiritual values. Superficiality blinds us to a person’s true worth and causes us to judge by appearances. The story in the gospel today is a story of faith, the story of the man who came to have faith in Jesus. The climax of the story is when the man makes a profession of faith: ‘Lord, I believe’. The man’s journey from blindness to sight symbolizes the journey from unbelief to faith, which is a journey from darkness to light. Faith helps us to find our way through the chaos, confusion, and darkness of the modern world. He has found Jesus and he has found himself. Do I really see? or are there important things in my life that I do not see?  Something that I should do, a person that I shoud help or reach out to?;  a danger that I should avoid?.  Jesus is the light of the world;  let us invite him into our hearts, and let Him be our guide, then we can say, we have found Jesus like the man in the gospel today.

Today we say to our mothers (whether they are with us here on earth or with us from Heaven): thank you for being there amidst glory and strife, for caring, for listening and giving me life.  Your love and your guidance have helped me to earn the peace and confidence for which we all yearn. Story of the man who was going to send flowers to his mother and he met a young boy bringing flowers to his mother’s grave. Happy Mother’s day.