To See Again for the First Time Faith is a hard thing to have in today’s world. We live in a world that places a value on what you can see, what you can measure, what you can touch and feel and hear and smell. So when you tell people that you believe, you place yourself in conflict with many people in our society. Today’s story of the man born blind can help us all to understand our faith and our journey from faith to deeper faith. The story comes from John’s gospel. John writes with rich symbols and in the story of the man born blind we can see a person growing in faith. The Blind man’s growth in faith is a mirror in which we can see the pattern of our own journeys of faith. We might think that we begin our journey of faith but it does not start with us. For our part, the journey in faith starts when we do what Jesus asks us to do: Go to your room and pray to your Father. Love your enemies. Forgive those who sin against you. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless. Once we do what Jesus tells us to do, we will find ourselves in conflict with those who oppose Jesus: With our culture that invites us to pamper ourselves rather than care for others. With our society that values conflict rather than peace. With our neighbors who fear the strangers and sinners whom we welcome into our midst. With our very selves that run from the daily commitment to pray and talk with God. The climax of the journey of faith is to enter into this relationship with Jesus, to have the eyes of our hearts opened that we might see Jesus and in seeing Jesus to see the face of God reflected in the face of Jesus. At this midpoint of Lent, may we enter more deeply into our hearts that we may discover Jesus inviting us, wherever we are on our journey of faith, to an ever deeper relationship with him. As we open our hearts to trust in this Jesus, may we find ourselves totally immersed and sustained in the mystery of our God.