On this fourth Sunday of Lent 2023 we share this reflection prepared by the Sisters Adorers, Province of Spain-Africa:

The light that is in each person is in you, is in me, and is in us. Our mission to recognize him as the light of the world and to adore.

This text from John’s Gospel that we find on the fourth Sunday of the Lent already brings us closer to the light of Easter. It invites us through gestures and signs to put ourselves in the shoes of the blind man and, with him, to make an inner journey:

• from our small or large dark areas to the light,
• from our slavery to freedom,
• from our failures, to restart paths of hope,
• from our concrete realities, those of every day, to recognize his living Presence, to give thanks and to adore.

What a challenge the Lenten liturgy offers us! It helps us and impels us in the dynamism of letting go of all that is dark in our lives and let in the glimpses of that light that illuminates, gives warmth and guides us to walk together with hope, to take care of life and like the blind man, after the encounter with Jesus, to be joyful witnesses in the Mission.

The Word challenges us. Let us close the eyes of our face, open those of our interior, and with the confidence of the blind man, let us whisper: “Master, may I see!”.

The blind man is so needy that he lets it touch his eyes. He does not know who he is, but he trusts in his healing power. The encounter with Jesus changes his life.

Jesus passes through our lives every moment; indeed, we walk with Him, and ¨in Him we are, we move and we exist”.

However, there are times when in our journey through life we “accommodate” and leave things as they are; we prefer to be blind so as not to be affected too much by the changing situations of life, we wait sitting on the road, begging perhaps, and facing the living Word of the Gospel. Today again we feel invited to come out of our usual blindness with our batteries well charged, ready to welcome its light to continue walking and accompanying, as many blind people we meet on the side of our way. Today, tomorrow, always with the desire to live a transforming process that goes through:

• ADORING with the light that Jesus gives to the blind, looking at the world and people from a different perspective.
• WALKING in communion and from within, to look ourselves in the eyes, and to encounter his Presence incarnated in each person, in each situation, in a special way in the blind of the road.
• ACCOMPANYING, like the blind man in the Gospel, to trust and believe in people, to be enablers, witnesses and above all, not to hinder God’s action.

Jesus is the light of the world because he saw the Light within him.

He will not enlighten me from the outside

but by helping me to discover my own Light

The light-life is already in the depths of my being.

If I look outside, I will never discover it.

Living my true self will set me free.