Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection for - Sunday, March 15, 2026

This weekend’s Gospel reminds us that many of us suffer from a lack of sight. In the passage, the man was “born blind,” the disciples were blind, the man’s neighbors were blind, and the Pharisees were blind.

When Jesus encounters the man “born blind,” he was both physically and spiritually blind. By the end of the passage, Jesus had cured both forms of blindness. Jesus doubles the meaning of the verb, “to see,” recalling both physical sight and inward illumination. The spiritual cure occurs when Jesus reveals Himself to the man: “You have seen him, the one speaking with you is he.”

The disciples are blind to the love of God. They immediately assume that the man’s blindness is the result of sin – either his sin or the sin of his parents. They believe that God punishes sinners with bad circumstances. Jesus does not follow their line of reasoning. Instead, he directs them to the work that God has sent Him to perform and to the glory that God receives from that work. Jesus makes it quite clear that God does not make an instrument out of suffering, making it somehow necessary.

The community was blind to the man. He was nobody to them. They only saw his condition, not him. After his cure, they couldn’t even recognize him as the same man. They questioned his cure because they, like the Pharisees, were blind to the possibilities that Jesus could achieve.

The Pharisees were blinded by their pride, doubt, and anger. They ignored the evidence; they doubted the identity of the man and that he was born blind; and, they denied God’s action in the healing. The truth upset them so much that they threw the formerly blind man out of the temple. When he encountered Jesus after his banishment from the temple, Jesus again “opens his eyes” by revealing His identity. The man who had been blind exclaims: “Lord, I believe!” and he worships Jesus.

As we contemplate this Gospel story, let’s ask Jesus to cure our spiritual blindness which prevents us from seeing others as God sees them. Let’s think about those times in our lives when we allow our pride to blind us, when we prefer our inner blindness to the truth, and when we close our eyes to the reality of God’s love.

Fr. Mike

Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection for - Sunday, March 8, 2026

“If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”

In the Gospel passage this weekend we hear about a Samaritan woman who went to a well when she thought no one else would be there. She didn’t want to socialize or to get advice. She just wanted to get water and quickly return to the safety of her home. However, she unexpectedly hears God’s voice through a Jewish man who ruins her plan. At first, she is reluctant. She knows He should not be speaking to her. However, as Jesus speaks, she becomes hopeful. Her heart is softened and she is willing to abandon the voice in her head, break all the rules, and listen to the intriguing words of this Jewish stranger.

As His words touch her heart, she stops being uncomfortable. She hears and believes that this is the voice of the “the Messiah!”What she hears turns her hot, dusty, confused world upside down. She is amazed by His words and becomes refreshed with the living water of God’s voice.She is so moved by the encounter that she is able to rise above her status as a social outcast and boldly inspires her townsfolk with words of her own. Because of her, they hear His voice and open their hearts to Him.

In the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, we learn about “Holy Indifference” which means a total openness to the will of God in one’s life. It requires that we fully surrender our plans, dreams, expectations, and aspirations so that we can gratefully accept in faith and love the future to which God calls us. In my case, I certainly never expected that God would call me here. Indeed, when I first heard His voice, I was reluctant. I guess you could say that I hardened my heart. Yet, He persisted and here I am.

God’s voice is always in our midst. It comes to us from both expected and surprising sources. Sometimes it confirms what we are thinking; sometimes it challenges us to think radically differently. We must listen for it, discern it carefully, be open to it (even if it’s uncomfortable), and then act on it. One thing is certain, whenever we hear God’s voice and from whomever it comes to us, we must not harden our hearts.

Fr. Mike

Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection for - Sunday, March 1, 2026

The Gospel this weekend is the account of the Transfiguration of our Lord. This is the moment when Jesus took Peter, James and John up the mountain to see him in dazzling white with Moses and Elijah as Jesus as the fulfillment of the law and the prophets.

The apostles hear God’s voice speaking to them. We pray that, as we listen to God’s voice, we may merit to become co-heirs to eternity.We should not be satisfied with merely hearing God. We must do more than that. We seek to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus. God tells the apostles to listen to Jesus. Those words are spoken to the apostles on the mountain and to us here today. Our very existence on this earth is directed toward listening to God and being transformed into the likeness of Christ.

So, what does this mean for us here today? First, we are reminded that our relationship with God is based on two essential points of contact: His Word and The Eucharist. Each mass is an opportunity for us to witness and participate in the glory of our Lord in much the same way as the apostles did on the mountain. We hear the word of God from the Old Testament which forms the basis of his loving relationship with us. We hear the good news of the New Testament which opens our minds and hearts to the promise of eternal life.

At each mass, our first duty is to “listen.” But then, much as Jesus shone in his glory on the mountain, he shines for us here on this very altar as the bread and wine are transformed into his body and blood.This is the first transformation.The second transformation occurs when we receive the Eucharist and we become what we receive. When we take what we receive outside of this church. When we “come down the mountain” and face the harsh reality of the world around us.That’s when the grace that we receive in Holy Communion gives us the courage and energy to speak for what is right and true. Jesus gives us his life, death and resurrection. He feeds us with his body and blood. In return, we need to stay focused, trust Him, obey Him, and, as God commands, “Listen to Him.”

Fr. Mike