Consider this story by Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho. (begin) A young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered, and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it.
But an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, “Your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.” The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. It was beating strongly but full of scars. It had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in … but they didn’t fit quite right and there were several jagged edges.
The young man looked at the old man’s heart and laughed. “You must be joking,” he said. “Compare your heart with mine … mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.”
“Yes,” said the old man, “Yours is perfect looking … but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love…I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them…and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren’t exact, I have some rough edges.
"Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away…and the other person hasn’t returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges. Giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too…and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?”
The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man.
The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old, scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man’s heart.
It fit…but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man’s heart flowed into his. (end)
Have we torn out pieces of our hearts to give away? Are we left with empty gouges? Giving love is taking a chance. On the other hand, the rough-edged hearts given to us in returned love are beautiful and filled wounds.
When we open our hearts to others – those we know and don’t know – and to God, we can see that which was hidden in the darkness. We are no longer blind. The light of Christ brightens our way. We are enlightened. And that’s the theme of today’s Gospel about the man born blind from birth.
But there is far more meaning about blindness and sight from John’s Gospel we 21st century Catholics don’t appreciate or even understand. Jesus opened the blind man’s eyes with clay wet with Jesus’ saliva after the man washed in the Pool of Siloam that is an ancient pool in Jerusalem.
We need our eyes to be opened – without the use of spit – about why, according to the Gospel, the parents of the blind man were afraid of the Jews. Why be afraid? Simply stated, if their son acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue.
This reading highlights the division of Jews after the crucifixion and resurrection as told to us by gospel writers Matthew and John. There were those Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah and those who believed the Messiah had yet to come. If you believed Jesus was the Messiah, then how could you remain in the synagogue? You couldn’t. You were expelled.
Things got very nasty between the groups with an important example being the Passion account in the Gospel of Matthew we will read on Palm Sunday: It’s important for us to remember, we Christians are the voice of the crowd.
The nastiness of Matthew, and especially John, towards Jews who did not believe Jesus was the Christ, contributed to the horrors of Christian pogroms against the Jewish people with the killing of tens of thousands of men, women, and children. The Nazi-caused Holocaust destroyed about six million Jews through guns, gas, and ovens. Then there is the nightmare of anti-Semitism that’s shockingly on the rise in America. This antichrist behavior is a slap-in-the-face of Jesus who insisted we love our neighbors, and, of course, he was a Jew!
Let’s open our eyes to the effects of our Gospels on the Jewish people. When we read the Passion on Palm Sunday and on Good Friday, you are the crowd. Therefore, before you respond to Caesar, tear out pieces of your hearts to give away to the Jewish people who today are increasingly faced with the hatred and persecution associated with antisemitism. This is critical for Catholics, all Christians, and Jews.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, a theologian, speaker, and writer I highly recommend, gave us a reminder about why we should oppose and fight against antisemitism. He said: For though my faith is not yours and your faith is not mine, if we are each free to light our own flame, together we can banish some of the darkness of the world.
Another reminder is provided by the Vatican II document “Declaration on the relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions: Nostra Aetate written almost 69 years ago. It reads: In her rejection of every persecution against any man, the Church – mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel's spiritual love – decries hatred, persecutions, and displays of anti-Semitism directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.
Lent is the perfect time for us to fast from hatred, pray for forgiveness, and give compassion and love to all people who have been and continue to be hated and persecuted, not just in the United States, but throughout the world. When we do, we will no longer be blind to evil always lurking and prowling in the darkness – evil that stalks us even during the light of the day.
Deacon David Pierce
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