The eyes of the heart are healed when they see the true light.

Fourth Sunday of Lent – LAETARE SUNDAY - Year A - March 15, 2026

Roman Rite

1Sm 16,1B 6-7 10-13A; Ps 23; Eph5.8 to 14; Jn 9, 1-41

 

 

 

 Ambrosian Rite

Ex 34.27 to 35.1; Ps 35; 2 Cor 3.7 to 18; Jn 9, 1-38b

Sunday of the Blind Man

 

1) Light for the eyes of the soul.

While last Sunday, through the Gospel of the Samaritan woman, Jesus promised also to us the gift of living water (Jn 4, 10.11), this fourth Sunday of Lent, called "Laetare" (= Rejoice) Sunday, presents Christ "light of world” who heals a" man born blind "(Jn 9, 1-41).

Who is a man born blind? It is a person who does not know the beauty of creation and of the creatures. It is one who lives without the power or the knowledge to put a face to the people next to him. It is one who lives without seeing the rainbow in the sky, the colors of the fields, the grandeur of the mountains, the sweetness of the fields, the colors of the flowers and of the trees.

            This blind man is, above all, one who does not know the joy of being able to look with love in the eyes of a dear one. It is a great sadness to have eyes and not see, relying only on what the ear and touch let perceive, and to be forced to walk the streets with a stick in the hands guessing where the obstacles are.

However, there is a much worse blindness, the one of the man who has no faith, who does not know Jesus, the only Truth that enlightens the world and who  gives meaning to the events,  room to the intelligence, depth to love, taste to everything that we are and do, including suffering. This man is really blind: what does he know of the Light, or rather with what light does he walk and judge things and facts?

Providentially, Christ heals the eyes of the body and of the soul with the touch of his fingers. This is a fact that makes us remember what happened to us the day of our Baptism when our eyes were caressed and blessed by the priest so that they could be open to the Light that is Christ. This light of Christ is given to us to live as children of light after the healing of the eyes of our heart which, "because they were ill”, were making our soul blind.

            Let us imagine the scene, especially when Jesus takes a fist of soil and mixes it with his saliva. He makes mud and smears it on the eyes of the blind man. This gesture alludes to the creation of man, which the Bible recounts with the symbol of the soil shaped and animated by the breath of God (see Gen 2.7). "Adam" means "earthy, kneaded earth" (Adam derives from the Hebrew word adamah which means soil) and the human body is indeed composed by elements of the earth. Healing the man, Jesus brings about a new creation. To give sight, in a sense, is equivalent to give life. Not by chance it is said that when a woman gives birth, she brings a child to light. To come to light is to enjoy the colors of the world, the freedom to move around without fear, to run in the light and to jump for joy. However, the deeper meaning of this miracle of light is that not only the eyes of the body can see, but also those of the soul. Then, we can investigate the depths of the mystery of Christ, see his truth and his love and exclaim: "Lord, I believe" (Jn 9, 38) prostrating ourselves before Him in a gesture of worship, as did the man born blind as soon as he was healed. From that moment for this man a journey of faith has begun.

 

2) Walk in the light.

The Church today proposes to us the journey to which Jesus had invited the healed man.

It is a journey of growth in the knowledge of the Mystery of Christ and in the experience of Him, who is light and leads us to the fullness of vision, even in the midst of the obstacles and the gray areas of life.

 The greatest grace that the blind man – who represent each of us- receives from Christ, is not to see, but to know Him, to see Him as the "light of the world" (Jn 9, 5). The miracle is that Christ makes not only see the sunlight, but also the light of truth.

In the miracle of the blind man, we see that conversion is allowing our eyes to be open to a reality as it really is and not as we see it when we look without the eyes of faith.

            Let us make our own the invitation of St. Bonaventure to a journey of the mind toward God: "Open your eyes, tend your spiritual ear, open your lips and make your heart available so that you may in all creatures see, hear , praise, love, worship, glorify, and honor your God "(Itinerarium mentis in Deum, I, 15).

It is a path that we can accomplish by following the exhortation of Saint Paul " Brothers and sisters: You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them, for it is shameful even to mention 
the things done by them in secret; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says: "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light." (Eph 5: 8 14 - Second Reading of this Sunday).

It is a journey in which we are called to be witnesses of the light and love that come from faith. “Faith tells us that God has given his Son for our sake and gives us the victorious certainty that it is true: God is love! It thus transforms our impatience and our doubts into the sure hope that God holds the world in his hands and that, despite all darkness, he ultimately triumphs in glory. Faith… gives rise to love. Love is the light—and in the end, the only light—that can always illuminate a world grown dim and give us the courage needed to keep living and working. Love is possible, and we are able to practice it because we are created in the image of God. "(Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, 39).

I would like to invite each one of us to this: to experience love and in this way to let the light of God in the world.

As taught by Pope Francis: “Our lives are sometimes similar to that of the blind man who opened himself to the light, who opened himself to God, who opened himself to his grace. Sometimes unfortunately they are like the doctors of the law: from the height of our pride we judge others, and even the Lord!...  The lengthy account opens with a blind man who begins to see and it closes with the alleged seers who remain blind in soul. In the end the blind man who was healed attains to faith, and this is the greatest grace that Jesus grants him: not only to see, but also to know Him, to see in Him “the light of the world”  "(Angelus, March 30, 2014).

 

3) Virginity for the Light

With his eyes closed but with good reason, the command of Christ, the blind man went to the pool of Siloam to wash his eyes smeared with mud. When the eyes became cloudless, he saw, believed and gave the news. His recovery was bodily and spiritually. For this reason, he saw not only people and things, but the truth of God and man. He saw that God is for man, that God is love, that God gives everything, that God gives himself, that God gives freedom, and that freedom is love and service.

This miracle invites us to ask the Lord to heal the eyes of our soul, to be converted to Him, to contemplate Him and to follow Him.

The consecrated virgins in the world are an example of this conversion made constant journey through a consecration that implies a complete offer of their lives to Christ. God "continually purifies and renews them to let them appear before him holy and immaculate, adorned as a bride for the wedding. In the mystery of the Church, virgin and mother, by thy Holy Spirit, you inspire the variety of gifts and charisms for the building of your kingdom. You speak, O Father, to the heart of your daughters and draw them with bonds of love so that, waiting ardent and vigilant, they may fill their lamps and go out to meet Christ, King of glory "(Preface of the Mass of the rite of consecration of Virgin).

 

Patristic Reading

Saint John Chrysostom (344/354 –407)

HOMILY LVI.

 

"And as Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was blind from his birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?"

 

[1.] “And as Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was blind from his birth.” Being full of love for man, and caring for our salvation, and desiring to stop the mouths of the foolish, He omitteth nothing of His own part, though there be none to give heed. And the Prophet knowing this saith, “That Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou art judged.” (Ps 51,4). Wherefore here, when they would not receive His sublime sayings, but said that He had a devil, and attempted to kill Him, He went forth from the Temple, and healed the blind, mitigating their rage by His absence, and by working the miracle softening their hardness and cruelty, and establishing His assertions. And He worketh a miracle which was no common one, but one which took place then for the first time. “Since the world began,” saith he who was healed, “was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.” (Jn 9,32). Some have, perhaps, opened the eyes of the blind, but of one born blind never. And that on going out of the Temple, He proceeded intentionally to the work, is clear from this; it was He who saw the blind man, not the blind man who came to Him; and so earnestly did He look upon him, that even His disciples perceived it. From this, at least, they came to question Him; for when they saw Him earnestly regarding the man, they asked Him, saying, “Who did sin, this man, or his parents?” A mistaken question, for how could he sin before he was born? and how, if his parents had sinned, would he have been punished? Whence then came they to put this question? Before, when He healed the paralytic, He said, “Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more.” (c. 5,14). They therefore, having understood that he was palsied on account of sin, said,“ Well, that other was palsied because of his sins; but concerning. this man, what wouldest Thou say? hath he sinned? It is not possible to say so, for he is blind from his birth. Have his parents sinned? Neither can one say this, for the child suffers not punishment for the father.” As therefore when we see a child evil entreated, we exclaim, “What can one say of this? what has the child done?”not as asking a question, but as being perplexed, so the disciples spake here, not so much asking for information, as being in perplexity. What then saith Christ?

 

Jn 9,3. “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents.”

 

This He saith not as acquitting them of sins, for He saith not simply, “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents,” but addeth, “that he should have been born blind1 —but that the Son of God should be glorified in him.” “For both this man hath sinned and his parents, but his blindness proceedeth not from that.” And this He said, not signifying that though this man indeed was not in such case, yet that others had been made blind from such a cause, the sins of their parents, since it cannot be that when one sinneth another should be punished. For if we allow this, we must also allow that he sinned before his birth. As therefore when He declared, “neither hath this man sinned,” He said not that it is possible to sin from one’s very birth, and be punished for it; so when He said, “nor his parents,” He said not that one may be punished for his parents’ sake. This supposition He removeth by the mouth of Ezekiel; “As I live saith the Lord, this proverb shall not be, that is used, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” (Ez 18,3 Ez 18,2). And Moses saith, “The father shall not die for the child, neither shall the child die for the father.” (Dt 24,16). And of a certain king2 Scripture saith, that for this very reason he did not this thing,3 observing the law of Moses. But if any one argue, “How then is it said, ‘Who visiteth the sins of the parents upon the children unto the third and fourth generation’?” (Dt 5,9); we should make this answer, that the assertion is not universal, but that it is spoken with reference to certain who came out of Egypt. And its meaning is of this kind; “Since these who have come out of Egypt, after signs and wonders, have become worse than their forefathers who saw none of these things, they shall suffer,” It saith, “the same that those others suffered, since they have dared the same crimes.” And that it was spoken of those men, any one who will give attention to the passage will more certainly know. Wherefore then was he born blind?

 

“That the glory4 of God should be made manifest,”5 He saith.

 

Lo, here again is another difficulty, if without this man’s punishment, it was not possible that the glory of God should be shown. Certainly it is not said that it was impossible, for it was possible, but, “that it might be manifested even in this man.” “What,” saith some one, “did he suffer wrong for the glory of God?” What wrong, tell me? For what if God had never willed to produce him at all? But I assert that he even received benefit from his blindness: since he recovered the sight of the eyes within. What were the Jews profited by their eyes? They incurred the heavier punishment, being blinded even while they saw. And what injury had this man by his blindness? For by means of it he recovered sight. As then the evils of the present life are not evils, so neither are the good things good; sin alone is an evil, but blindness is not an evil. And He who had brought this man from not being into being, had also power to leave him as he was.

 

 

Guérir les yeux du cœur afin de voir la vraie lumière.

 

IVème Dimanche de Carême - Laetare – Année A – 15 mars 2026

Rite Romain

1 S 16, 1b.6-7.10-13a; Ps 22; Ep 5, 8-14; Jn 9, 1-41

 

Rite Ambrosien

Ex 34,27-35,1; Ps 35; 2Co 3, 7-18; Jn 9, 1-38b

Dimanche de l'aveugle.

 

1) La lumière pour les yeux de l’âme.

Alors que dimanche dernier, à travers l’Évangile de la Samaritaine, Jésus nous a promis, à nous aussi, le don de l'eau vive (Jn 4, 10.11), ce VIème dimanche de Carême, appelé aussi "Laetare" (Réjouissez-vous) nous présente le Christ "lumière du monde" qui guérit un aveugle-né (cf Jn 9, 1-41).

 

Qu'est-ce qu'un aveugle-né? C'est une personne qui ne sait rien de la beauté de la création et des créatures. C'est quelqu'un qui vit sans voir les arcs en ciel, la douceur des champs, la majesté des montagnes, les couleurs des fleurs et des arbres. C'est quelqu'un qui vit sans pouvoir ou savoir donner un visage aux personnes qui lui sont proches. 

 

Un aveugle-né est surtout quelqu'un qui ne connaît pas la joie de pouvoir regarder dans les yeux avec amour une personne qui lui est chère. C'est une grande tristesse que d'avoir des yeux et de ne pas voir, de devoir s'en remettre uniquement à ce que l’ouïe et le toucher nous font percevoir et d'être obligé de marcher sur la route avec un bâton dans les mains en devinant les obstacles sans savoir où ils sont.

 

Cependant il y a une cécité bien pire chez l'homme qui n'a pas la foi et qui ne connaît pas Jésus qui est la seule Vérité qui illumine le monde, qui donne sens aux faits, espace à l'intelligence, profondeur à l'amour, goût à tout ce que nous sommes et à tout ce que nous faisons, affections comprises. Cet homme-là est vraiment aveugle: que sait-il de la Lumière ou plutôt avec quelle lumière marche-t-il, juge-t-il les choses et les faits?

 

Providentiellement, le Christ lui guérit les yeux du corps mais aussi ceux de l’âme par le toucher de ses doigts. Cela nous rappelle ce qui nous est arrivé le jour de notre baptême quand nos yeux ont été caressés et bénis par le prêtre pour qu'ils s'ouvrent à la Lumière qu'est le Christ. Cette lumière du Christ nous est donnée pour que nous puissions vivre en enfant de la lumière, une fois nos yeux du cœur guéris, eux qui rendaient notre âme aveugle lorsqu'ils étaient malades.

 

Imaginons la scène, surtout lorsque Jésus prend un peu de terre et la mélange avec sa salive. Il en fait de la boue et l'enduit sur les yeux de l'aveugle. Ce geste fait référence à la création de l'homme que la Bible nous raconte avec l'image de la terre façonnée et animée du souffle de Dieu (cf Gn 2, 7). "Adam" en effet signifie "terrien, pétri de terre" (Adam vient de la parole hébraïque adamah qui veut dire terre) et le corps humain est effectivement composé d'éléments de la terre. En guérissant l'homme, Jésus opère une nouvelle création. Donner la vue, en un certain sens, équivaut à donner la vie. Ce n'est pas par hasard si, en Italie, on dit d'une femme qu'elle « donne à la lumière » un enfant quand elle lui donne la vie. Venir à la lumière c'est profiter des couleurs du monde, de la liberté de se déplacer sans peur, de courir dans la lumière et de sauter de joie. 

 

Cependant la signification la plus profonde de ce miracle de la lumière est que non seulement les yeux du corps mais aussi ceux de l’âme peuvent voir. Ainsi l'on peut regarder dans la profondeur du mystère du Christ, voir sa vérité et son amour et s'exclamer: "Je crois, Seigneur" (Jn 9, 38) en se prosternant devant Lui dans un geste d'adoration comme le fit l'aveugle-né dès qu'il fut guéri. A partir de ce moment-là commença pour cet homme un chemin de foi.

 

2) Un chemin de foi dans la lumière.

Le chemin de foi  auquel Jésus invita le miraculé nous est proposé à nouveau aujourd'hui par l’Église. C'est un chemin de croissance dans la connaissance du mystère du Christ et dans l'expérience que nous faisons de lui qui est lumière et qui nous conduit à la plénitude de la vision, même au milieu des obstacles et des zones d'ombre de la vie.

 

La grâce la plus grande que reçoit du Christ ce miraculé anonyme – qui représente donc chacun de nous – n'est pas tant celle de voir que celle de le connaître lui, de le voir comme "la lumière du monde" (Jn 9, 5). Le miracle est que le Christ ne fait pas voir seulement la lumière du soleil mais aussi celle de la vérité.

 

Dans le miracle de l'aveugle-né nous voyons que la conversion est d'accepter de se laisser ouvrir les yeux sur la réalité comme elle est vraiment: en Dieu et non comme nous la voyons quand nous la regardons avec les yeux qui ne sont pas ceux de la foi.

 

Faisons donc nôtre l'invitation de Saint Bonaventure pour un chemin de l'esprit vers Dieu: " Ouvre donc les yeux, tends l'oreille spirituelle. Ouvre tes lèvres et dispose ton cœur pour pouvoir dans toutes les créatures voir, écouter, louer, aimer, vénérer, glorifier, honorer ton Dieu" (Itinarium mentis in Deum, I, 15).

 

C'est un chemin que nous pouvons accomplir en suivant l’exhortation de Saint Paul: « Frères, autrefois, vous étiez ténèbres ; maintenant, dans le Seigneur, vous êtes lumière ; conduisez-vous comme des enfants de lumière – or la lumière a pour fruit tout ce qui est bonté, justice et vérité – et sachez reconnaître ce qui est capable de plaire au Seigneur. Ne prenez aucune part aux activités des ténèbres, elles ne produisent rien de bon ; démasquez-les plutôt. Ce que ces gens-là font en cachette, on a honte même d’en parler. Mais tout ce qui est démasqué est rendu manifeste par la lumière, et tout ce qui devient manifeste est lumière. C’est pourquoi l’on dit : Réveille-toi, ô toi qui dors, relève-toi d’entre les morts, et le Christ t’illuminera » (Ep 5, 8-14 – IIème lecture de ce dimanche).

 

C'est un chemin sur lequel nous sommes appelés à être témoin de la lumière et de l'amour qui naissent de la foi. "La foi nous montre le Dieu qui a donné son Fils pour nous et suscite ainsi en nous la certitude victorieuse qu’est bien vraie l’affirmation: Dieu est Amour. De cette façon, elle transforme notre impatience et nos doutes en une espérance assurée que Dieu tient le monde entre ses mains et que malgré toutes les obscurités il triomphe. [...] La foi [...] suscite à son tour l’amour. Il est la lumière – en réalité l’unique – qui illumine sans cesse à nouveau un monde dans l’obscurité et qui nous donne le courage de vivre et d’agir. L’amour est possible, et nous sommes en mesure de le mettre en pratique parce que nous sommes créés à l’image de Dieu" (Benedetto XVI, Deus caritas est, n.39). 

 

Vivre l'amour est de cette façon faire entrer la lumière de Dieu dans le monde, voilà ce à quoi je voudrais tous vous inviter et chacun de nous en particulier.

 

Comme l'enseignait le pape François: "Notre vie est parfois semblable à celle de l’aveugle qui s’est ouvert à la lumière, qui s’est ouvert à Dieu, qui s’est ouvert à sa grâce. Parfois malheureusement, elle est un peu comme celle des docteurs de la loi, des pharisiens qui s’enlisent toujours plus dans leur cécité intérieure: du haut de notre orgueil, nous jugeons les autres, et même le Seigneur ! A la fin de l’épisode de l’homme aveugle de naissance auquel Jésus donne la vue, alors que de présumés voyants continuent à rester aveugles dans l’âme, l’aveugle guéri parvient à la foi, et c’est la grâce la plus grande qui lui est faite par Jésus : non seulement de voir, mais de Le connaître, de Le voir comme « la lumière du monde » (Angélus du 30 mars 2014).

 

 

3) La virginité pour la lumière.

L'aveugle-né se rendit – les yeux fermés mais avec une bonne raison: l'injonction du Christ – à la piscine de Siloé pour se laver les yeux enduits de boue. Quand ses yeux furent lavés, il vit, il crut et il annonça. La guérison fut corporelle et spirituelle. Ainsi non seulement il vit des personnes et des choses mais il vit aussi la vérité de Dieu et de l'homme. Il vit que Dieu est pour l'homme, que Dieu est amour, que Dieu donne tout, que Dieu se donne lui-même, que Dieu donne la liberté, que la liberté est amour et service.

 

Ce miracle nous invite à demander au Seigneur de guérir les yeux de notre âme, donc de nous convertir à lui pour que nous puissions le contempler et le suivre.

 

Les vierges consacrées dans le monde sont un exemple de cette conversion devenue chemin continu par la consécration qui implique une offrande complète de sa propre vie au Christ. Que Dieu "continuellement les purifie et les renouvelle pour les faire apparaître devant lui immaculées et saintes comme des épouses parées pour les noces. Dans le mystère de cette Église, vierge et mère, par l'intermédiaire de ton Esprit, suscite la variété des dons et des charismes pour l'édification de ton règne. C'est toi qui parles, o Père, au cœur de tes filles et qui les attire par des liens d'amour afin que dans l'attente ardente et vigilante, elles alimentent leur lampe et aillent à la rencontre du Christ, le roi de gloire" (Préface de la Messe du Rite de consécration des Vierges).

 

 

 

 

Lecture Patristique

Saint Ambroise de Milan (339 - 397)

Lettre 80, 1-6

PL 16, 1271-1272.

 

 

Des yeux qui s'ouvrent à une autre lumière

 

 

Vous avez entendu la lecture d'Évangile (Jn 9,1 sv.), où l'on rapporte que le Seigneur Jésus vit sur son passage un aveugle de naissance. Si le Seigneur, après l'avoir vu, n'a pas poursuivi sa route, nous non plus nous ne devons pas poursuivre notre chemin quand le Seigneur n'a pas voulu le faire; d'autant plus qu'il s'agissait d'un aveugle de naissance, ce qui n'a pas été signalé pour rien.

 

Il y a en effet une cécité qui vient souvent d'une maladie nuisible à la vue, et qui s'atténue avec le temps. Il y a une cécité qui est engendrée par la sécrétion de certaines humeurs. Celle-là aussi, quand sa cause est supprimée, est généralement chassée par l'art médical. Cela doit vous faire comprendre que si cet homme, aveugle de naissance, est guéri, ce n'est pas un effet de l'art, mais d'une puissance souveraine. <>

 

En effet, ce qui est un défaut de la nature, c'est au Créateur de le corriger, car il est l'auteur de la nature. Ce qui lui a fait dire: Tant que je suis dans le monde, je suis la lumière du monde (Jn 9,5), c'est-à-dire que tous ceux qui sont aveugles peuvent voir, s'ils me cherchent, moi, la lumière. Approchez-vous et vous serez dans la lumière (Ps 33,6), afin que vous puissiez voir.

 

Ensuite, que veut dire le fait suivant? Jésus rendait la vie par son commandement, il donnait le salut par un précepte en disant au mort: Viens dehors, et Lazare sortit de son sépulcre (Jn 11,43). Ou encore, il avait dit au paralytique: Lève-toi, emporte ton grabat (Mc 2,11-12), et le paralytique se leva et se mit à emporter son grabat, qui servait à le transporter à cause du relâchement de tous ses membres. Alors, pourquoi, ici, Jésus a-t-il craché, fait de la boue dont il a enduit les yeux de l'aveugle, en lui disant: Va, et lave-toi dans la fontaine de Siloé, dont le nom signifie Envoyé. Et il y alla, il se lava, et il se mit à voir (Jn 9,7)? Quelle est la raison de cette différence? Elle est importante, si je ne me trompe; c'est qu'il voit davantage, celui que Jésus touche.

 

Remarquez tout à la fois sa divinité et sa vertu sanctifiante. Étant la lumière, il a touché l'aveugle et il l'a éclairé. Étant prêtre, il a réalisé, sous le signe du baptême, les mystères de la grâce spirituelle.

 

Qu'il ait fait de la boue et qu'il en ait enduit les yeux de l'aveugle, cela ne signifie rien d'autre que ceci: avec la boue qu'il lui applique, il a rendu à la santé ce même homme qu'il avait façonné avec de la boue (cf. Gn 2,7). Cela signifie aussi que notre chair tirée de la boue reçoit la lumière de la vie éternelle par les mystères du baptême. Toi aussi, approche-toi de Siloé, c'est-à-dire de celui qui est l'Envoyé du Père, puisque tu connais cette parole: Ma doctrine n'est pas la mienne, mais la doctrine de celui qui m'a envoyé (Jn 7,17). Que le Christ te lave, pour que tu voies. Viens au baptême, c'est justement l'époque; viens vite, afin de pouvoir dire, toi aussi: Je suis allé, je me suis lavé, et j'ai vu ; et pour que tu dises, toi aussi: J'étais aveugle et j'ai vu ; pour que tu dises, toi aussi, comme celui qui vient d'être inondé par la lumière: La nuit est finie, le jour est tout proche (Rm 13,12).

 

 

Occhi del cuore guariti per vedere la luce vera.

IV Domenica di Quaresima  - LAETARE – Anno A – 15 marzo 2026

Rito Romano

Sam 16,1.4.6-7.10-13; Sal 22; Ef 5,8-14; Gv 9,1-41

 

 

 

Rito Ambrosiano

Es 34,27-35,1; Sal 35; 2Cor 3,7-18; Gv 9,1-38b

Domenica del cieco

         

            1) Luce per gli occhi dell’anima.

            Mentre domenica scorsa, attraverso il Vangelo della Samaritana Gesù ha promesso anche a noi il dono dell’acqua viva (Gv 4, 10.11) in questa IV domenica di Quaresima, chiamata anche “Laetare” (= Rallegrati), ci presenta Cristo “luce del mondo”, che guarisce un “cieco nato” (cfr.  Gv 9,1-41).

            Chi è un cieco nato? È una persona che non sa cosa sia la bellezza del creato e delle creature. È uno che vive senza potere o sapere dare un volto alle persone che gli sono accanto. È uno vive senza vedere l’arcobaleno del cielo, i colori dei campi, l’imponenza delle montagne, la dolcezza dei campi, i colori dei fiori e degli alberi.

            Questo cieco è, soprattutto, uno che non conosce la gioia di poter fissare negli occhi con amore una persona cara. E’ una grande tristezza avere gli occhi e non vedere, affidandosi solo a quanto l’orecchio e il tatto fanno percepire, ed ad essere costretti a camminare per le vie con un bastone tra le mani, indovinando gli ostacoli senza sapere dove siano.

            Tuttavia vi è una cecità molto peggiore, nell'uomo che non ha fede, che non conosce Gesù, che è la sola Verità che illumina il mondo, che dà senso ai fatti, spazio all'intelligenza, profondità all'amore, gusto a tutto ciò che siamo e facciamo, affetti compresi. Costui davvero è cieco: che ne sa della Luce, o meglio con quale luce cammina, giudica cose e fatti?

            Provvidenzialmente, Cristo gli sana gli occhi del corpo e quelli dell’anima, con il tocco delle sue dita. Fatto questo che ci fa ricordare anche quanto accadde a noi il giorno del nostro battesimo, quando i nostri occhi furono stati accarezzati e benedetti dal sacerdote, perché si schiudessero alla Luce, che è Cristo. Questa luce di Cristo ci è data per vivere da figli della luce, dopo avere avuto guariti gli occhi del cuore, che “malati” rendevano cieca l’anima.

            Immaginiamoci la scena, soprattutto quando Gesù prende un po’ di terra e la mischia con la sua saliva. Ne fa del fango e lo spalma sugli occhi del cieco. Questo gesto allude alla creazione dell’uomo, che la Bibbia racconta con il simbolo della terra plasmata e animata dal soffio di Dio (cfr Gn 2,7). “Adamo” infatti significa “terrestre, impastato di terra” (Adamo deriva dalla parola ebraica adamah che vuol dire terra), e il corpo umano in effetti è composto di elementi della terra. Guarendo l’uomo, Gesù opera una nuova creazione. Dare la vista, in certo senso, equivale dare la vita. Non a caso si dice che un donna dà alla luce un bambino. Venire alla luce è godere dei colori del mondo, della libertà di muoversi senza paura, di correre nella luce e saltare di gioia. Tuttavia il significato più profondo di questo miracolo della luce è che non solo gli occhi del corpo possono vedere, ma anche quelli dell’anima e così si può guardare nella profondità del mistero di Cristo, vedere la sua verità ed il suo amore ed esclamare: “Io credo, Signore” (Gv 9, 38), prostrandoci davanti a Lui, in un gesto che è adorazione, come ha fatto il cieco nato appena fu guarito. Da quel momento per quell’uomo inizio un cammino di fede. 

 

            2) Cammino nella luce.

            Il cammino a cui Gesù invitò il miracolato ci oggi è riproposto dalla Chiesa. 

            E’ un cammino di crescita nella conoscenza del Mistero di Cristo, e nell’esperienza di Lui, che è luce, e ci conduce alla pienezza della visione, anche, in mezzo agli ostacoli e alle zone d’ombra della vita.

            A questo miracolato anonimo – che, quindi, rappresenta ciascuno di noi - la grazia più grande che riceve da Cristo non tanto è quella di vedere, quanto quella di conoscere Lui, vederLo come “la luce del mondo” (Gv 9,5). Il miracolo è che Cristo non fa vedere solo la luce del sole, ma anche quella della verità.

            Nel miracolo del cieco nato vediamo che la conversione è un lasciarsi aprire gli occhi su una realtà com’è davvero: in Dio e non come la vediamo quando guardiamo con occhi non di fede.

            Quindi, facciamo nostro l’invito di San Bonaventura per un cammino della mente verso Dio: “Apri dunque gli occhi, tendi l’orecchio spirituale, apri le tue labbra e disponi il tuo cuore, perché tu possa in tutte le creature vedere, ascoltare, lodare, amare, venerare, glorificare, onorare il tuo Dio” (Itinerarium mentis in Deum, I, 15).

            E’ un cammino, che possiamo compiere seguendo l’esortazione di San Paolo “Fratelli, un tempo eravate tenebra, ora siete luce nel Signore. Comportatevi perciò come i figli della luce; e il frutto della luce consiste in ogni bontà, giustizia e verità. Cercate ciò che è gradito al Signore, e non partecipate alle opere infruttuose delle tenebre, ma piuttosto condannatele apertamente, poiché di quanto viene fatto da costoro, in segreto, è vergognoso perfino parlare. Tutte queste cose, che vengono apertamente condannate sono rivelate dalla luce, perché tutto quello che si manifesta è luce. Per questo sta scritto: ‘Svegliati, o tu che dormi, destati dai morti e Cristo ti illuminerà’”. (Ef 5, 8 14 - II lettura di questa Domenica).

             E’ un cammino in cui siamo chiamati ad essere testimoni della luce e dell’amore che nasce dalla fede. “La fede ci mostra il Dio che ha dato il suo Figlio per noi e suscita così in noi la vittoriosa certezza che è proprio vero: Dio è amore! In questo modo essa trasforma la nostra impazienza e i nostri dubbi nella sicura speranza che Dio tiene il mondo nelle sue mani e che nonostante ogni oscurità Egli vince. […] La fede… suscita a sua volta l’amore. Esso è la luce – in fondo l’unica – che rischiara sempre di nuovo un mondo buio e ci dà il coraggio di vivere e di agire. L’amore è possibile, e noi siamo in grado di praticarlo perché creati ad immagine di Dio” (Benedetto XVI, Deus caritas est, n.39).

            Vivere l’amore e in questo modo far entrare la luce di Dio nel mondo, ecco ciò a cui vorrei invitare tutti e ciascuno di noi.

            Come insegnva Papa Francesco: “La nostra vita - a volte - è simile a quella del cieco che si è aperto alla luce, a Dio e alla sua grazia. A volte purtroppo è un po’ come quella dei dottori della legge, dei farisei, che sprofondarono sempre più nella cecità interiore: dall’alto del nostro orgoglio giudichiamo gli altri, e perfino il Signore... Nell’episodio evangelico dell’uomo cieco dalla nascita, al quale Gesù dona la vista: alla fine, mentre i “presunti vedenti” continuano a rimanere ciechi, il cieco guarito approda alla fede ed è questa la grazia più grande che gli viene fatta da Cristo: conoscere Lui, che è la luce del mondo” (Angelus, del 18 marzo 2016).

 

            3) Verginità per la Luce.

            Il cieco nato andò - a occhi chiusi ma con una buona ragione: il comando di Cristo – alla piscina di Siloe per lavarsi gli occhi impastati di fango. Quando gli occhi furono tersi, vide, credette e annunciò. La guarigione fu corporale e spirituale. Per questo vide non solo persone e cose, ma la verità di Dio e dell’uomo. Vide che Dio è per l’uomo, che Dio è amore, che Dio dona tutto, che Dio dona se stesso, che Dio dona la libertà che la libertà è l’amore e il servizio. 

            Questo miracolo ci invita a chiedere al Signore di guarire gli occhi della nostra anima, quindi di convertirci verso di Lui, per contemplarLo e seguirLo.

            Le vergini consacrate nel mondo sono un esempio di questa conversione resa costante cammino mediante la consacrazione, che implica un’offerta piena della propria vita a Cristo. Dio “continuamente le purifica e rinnova, per farle comparire davanti a sé immacolate e sante, come spose adorne per le nozze. Nel mistero di questa Chiesa, vergine e madre, per mezzo del tuo Spirito susciti la varietà dei doni e dei carismi per l’edificazione del tuo regno. Sei tu che parli, o Padre, al cuore delle tue figlie e le attiri con vincoli di amore perché nell’attesa ardente e vigilante alimentino le loro lampade e vadano incontro a Cristo, re della gloria” (Prefazio della Messa del Rito di consacrazione delle Vergini).

 

 

Lettura Patristica

Sant’Efrem, il Siro (306 – 373)

Diatessaron, 16, 28-32

 

Il cieco nato

 

       E perché essi avevano bestemmiato a proposito delle sue parole: "Prima che Abramo fosse, io ero" (Jn 8,58), Gesù andò verso l’incontro con un uomo, cieco fin dalla nascita: "E i suoi discepoli lo interrogarono: Chi ha peccato, lui o i suoi genitori? Egli disse loro: Né lui, né i suoi genitori, ma è perché Dio sia glorificato. È necessario che io compia le opere di colui che mi ha mandato, finché è giorno" (Jn 9,2-4), fintanto che sono con voi. "Sopraggiunge la notte" (Jn 9,4), e il Figlio sarà esaltato, e voi che siete la luce del mondo, scomparirete e non vi saranno più miracoli a causa dell’incredulità. "Ciò dicendo, sputò per terra, formò del fango con la saliva, e fece degli occhi con il suo fango" (Jn 9,6), e la luce scaturí dalla terra, come al principio, quando l’ombra del cielo, "la tenebra, era estesa su tutto" ed egli comandò alla luce e quella nacque dalle tenebre (Gn 1,2-3). Così «egli formò del fango con la saliva», e guarì il difetto che esisteva dalla nascita, per mostrare che lui, la cui mano completava ciò che mancava alla natura, era proprio colui la cui mano aveva modellato la creazione al principio. E siccome rifiutavano di crederlo anteriore ad Abramo, egli provò loro con quest’opera che era il Figlio di colui che, con la sua mano, "formò" il primo "Adamo con la terra" (Gn 2,7): in effetti, egli guarì la tara del cieco con i gesti del proprio corpo.

 

       Fece ciò inoltre per confondere coloro che dicono che l’uomo è fatto di quattro elementi, poiché rifece le membra carenti con terra e saliva, fece ciò a utilità di coloro che cercavano i miracoli per credere: "I Giudei cercano i miracoli" (1Co 1,22). Non fu la piscina di Siloe che aprì gli occhi del cieco (Jn 9,7 Jn 11), come non furono le acque del Giordano che purificarono Naaman; è il comando del Signore che compie tutto. Ben più, non è l’acqua del nostro Battesimo, ma i nomi che si pronunciano su di essa, che ci purificano. "Unse i suoi occhi con il fango" (Jn 9,6), perché i Giudei ripulissero l’accecamento del loro cuore. Quando il cieco se ne andò tra la folla e chiese: «Dov’è Siloe?», si vide il fango cosparso sui suoi occhi. Le persone lo interrogarono, egli le informò, ed esse lo seguirono, per vedere se i suoi occhi si fossero aperti.

 

       Coloro che vedevano la luce materiale erano guidati da un cieco che vedeva la luce dello spirito, e, nella sua notte, il cieco era guidato da coloro che vedevano esteriormente, ma che erano spiritualmente ciechi. Il cieco lavò il fango dai suoi occhi, e vide se stesso; gli altri lavarono la cecità del loro cuore ed esaminarono sé stessi. Nostro Signore apriva segretamente gli occhi di molti altri ciechi. Quel cieco fu una bella e inattesa fortuna per Nostro Signore; per suo tramite, acquistò numerosi ciechi, che egli guarì dalla cecità del cuore.

 

       In quelle poche parole del Signore si celavano mirabili tesori, e, in quella guarigione era delineato un simbolo: Gesù figlio del Creatore. "Va’, lavati il viso" (Jn 9,7), per evitare che qualcuno consideri quella guarigione più come un stratagemma che come un miracolo, egli lo mandò a lavarsi. Disse ciò per mostrare che il cieco non dubitava del potere di guarigione del Signore, e perché, camminando e parlando, pubblicizzasse l’evento e mostrasse la sua fede.

 

       La saliva del Signore servì da chiave agli occhi chiusi, e guarì l’occhio e la pupilla con le acque, con le acque formò il fango e riparò il difetto. Agì così, affinché, allorché gli avrebbero sputato in faccia, gli occhi dei ciechi, aperti dalla sua saliva, avessero reso testimonianza contro di essi. Ma essi non compresero il rimprovero che egli volle fare a proposito degli occhi guariti dei ciechi: "Perché coloro che vedono diventino ciechi" (Mt 26,27); diceva questo dei ciechi perché lo vedano corporalmente, e di quelli che vedono perché i loro cuori non lo conoscano. Egli ha formato il fango durante il sabato (Jn 9,14). Omisero il fatto della guarigione e gli rimproverarono di aver formato del fango. Lo stesso dissero a colui "che era malato da trentotto anni: Chi ti ha detto di portare il tuo lettuccio?" (Jn 5,5 Jn 12), e non: Chi ti ha guarito? Qui, analogamente: «Ha fatto del fango durante il sabato». E così, anzi per molto meno, non si ingelosirono di lui e non lo rinnegarono, quando guarì un idropico, con una sola parola, in giorno di sabato? (Lc 14,1-6). Cosa gli fece dunque guarendolo? Egli fu purificato e guarito con la sola parola. Quindi, secondo le loro teorie, chiunque parla viola il sabato; ma allora - si dirà - chi ha maggiormente violato il sabato, il nostro Salvatore che guarisce, o coloro che ne parlano con gelosia?

 

The thirst of the heart

Third Sunday of Lent - Year A - March 8, 2026

Roman Rite

Ex 17.3 to 7; Ps 95; Rm 5, 1-2.5-8; Jn 4, 5-42

 

Ambrosian Rite

Ex 34.1 to 10; Ps 105; Gal 3.6 to 14; Jn 8.31 to 59

Sunday of Abraham

 

Introduction

On this Third Sunday of Lent, as later in the Fourth and Fifth Sunday, the Liturgy, instead of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, offers us three texts taken from the Gospel of St. John. They describe three meetings of Jesus:

• the one at Jacob's well with the Samaritan woman, who receives the gift of the water that quenches thirst forever;

•the one with the man born blind, who receives the light of the eyes and of the heart;

•the one with his friend Lazarus, whom He resurrects.

The encounter with each of these three people highlights some aspects of the person of Jesus, Son of God, who gives life by quenching our thirst with "spiritual" water, by giving light to see God and not just the world, and by giving life to a friend, namely to each of us

 

1) Our thirst.

 Because He is love, God thirsts to love and be loved; man, his creature, thirsts to be loved and to love. This thirst leads Christ to ask to the Samaritan woman: "Give me a drink" (see Jn 4, 7). The Son of God comes to us as a beggar in need of what we can give. "The greatest thing in the love of God is not the fact that he loves us, but the fact that he asks for love, as if he could not be able to do without what we can give to him. The one who is infinite, who is the eternal, the one who is self-sufficient rests on the brink of a well” (Father Divo Barsotti). The Samaritan woman represents the whole humanity, whose thirst for love cannot be satisfied by any man (the Samaritan woman had had six men).

Let us try to imagine the scene of today's Gospel: around noon a woman goes to Jacob's well, which is located near to the village where she lives, to draw water and within minutes lands to the faith that her encounter with Christ arouses. Jesus is waiting for her at the well and he too expressed his wish. Faith is born from the meeting between two deep desires that "talk" to each other. The thirst of Christ reveals the secret of the thirst for this woman, who represents all of us.

Why does this woman come to faith and does it so quickly?

• Because she agrees to a dialogue with Christ, who is waiting at the rim of the well. Because she comes to the well where she goes every day, and because every day her body is thirsty. The Samaritan woman is thirsty also and above all for love, and does not find it either exaggerating the love she already has, nor continually changing love (ahead of the five men she has already left and the one with whom she lives, now comes Christ, the one who is the “seventh").

• Because she gets thirsty not only for the water that quenches the body, but also for the one that quenches the thirst for truth, love, and justice. This “spiritual” thirst - in front of Jesus who says "If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, 'Give me a drink', you would have asked him and he would have given you living water" (Jn 4, 10) - pushes this woman to beg, saying: "Lord, give me this water" (Jn 4, 14).

This woman not only is the humanity alive at the time of the earthly life of Christ. She also represents the whole of humanity of all time, whose thirst is well expressed by these words: "O God, you are my God, for you my body yearns; for you my soul thirsts, in a land parched, lifeless, and without water"(Ps 63.2).

The thirst of man was not extinguished either then or ever: it is not extinguishable. In every human being there is the unavoidable question of meaning (understood as direction and taste of life) and opening to the Infinite. To this question of the infinite, the world responds with endless things that never fill the human heart that wants the infinite because it is capable of God. In this regard, the Catechism of the Catholic Church in  Chapter 1, entitled Man is "capable" of God, reiterates the fact that the desire (that is the thirst) of God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God. God never ceases to draw man to himself and man, only in God, will find the truth and the happiness that he seeks without pause. The meaning of the human life consists in its vocation to communion with God, the source of joy.

If we were to ask those who do not yet know Christ, those who have not yet met him, even those who do not want to try, many would answer to be happy with their lot. They go to fetch water, but they do not need God. They go to the well to fetch water for the body, but do not notice that they have thirst for another water. The presence of Christ reveals to the soul its emptiness that only God's infinite love can fill. Of this speaks the Blessed Charles de Foucauld who, in his meditation, talks about the sadness that earthly passions brought to him when, still an atheist, he believed to suffocate with trespasses the thirst for God, typical of man.

 

2) The thirst of Christ.

To answer the deep thirst that our spirit has, Christ puts one condition to donate himself. He begs an "offering": that we give him water for his thirst. The water that he asks for to the Samaritan woman is an offering. Thanks to it, our hands and our hearts are open, and can thus receive much more, infinitely more.

Inspired by a painting by Duccio di Boninsegna that depicts Jesus sitting on the edge of a well, which is actually a solid marble baptismal font[1], and the Samaritan woman carrying on the head a delicately balanced fragile clay jug, I can write that Jesus needs our pitcher to draw into the well, that is, He need our freedom and our free love, that he redeems.

The spiritual journey of the Samaritan woman is proposed to us today. It is a route, that each of us is called to rediscover and to travel constantly. Even we, who are baptized, are always on the journey to become true Christians and this Gospel episode is an incentive to rediscover the importance and the meaning of our Christian life, the true desire of God that lives in us.

Proposing the Gospel of the Samaritan woman, the Church today wants to bring us to profess our faith in Christ, as this woman did, going out to announce and to testify to our brothers and sisters the joy of meeting Him and the marvels that his love accomplishes in our lives.

Faith is born from the encounter with Jesus, recognized and welcomed as a savior in whom the face of God is revealed. After the Lord has won the hearts of the Samaritan woman, her life is transformed, and she runs without delay to communicate the good news to her people. St. Augustine said that God thirsts for our thirst for Him, that is, He wants to be desired. The more the human being turns away from God, the more He pursues him with his merciful love. 

Today, the Gospel urges us to review our relationship with Jesus and to seek his face tirelessly. "It is the desire that hollows our heart" (St. Augustine) and expands it. It is the desire that makes deep the heart and the "life of a good Christian is the holy desire" (St, Augustine).

A testimony of a good Christian life is that of consecrated virgins in the world, who mortify the thirst for human love to drink only the water of life that flows from Christ and to respond to his thirst.

The consecrated celibacy “is not lack of desire, but intensity of desire" (Saint Teresa of Avila). It is a vocation that expresses how you can live a life that is only quenched by God. This life given and therefore fruitful, must be lived with an attitude of faith and spiritual joy, nourished by prayer. It must be lived with a detachment not only from marriage but also from too limited fondness to direct all energies, including the affective one, to the communion with Christ and with those who become close because of him.

The person living a consecrated virginity is a precious gift for the Church. In fact, she testifies the initial presence of the kingdom of God and the sure hope of its fulfillment and makes us more available to service. Finally let's not forget that virginity does not contradict the dignity of marriage but presupposes it, confirms it and defends it from a reductive interpretations. It reminds the spouses that they must live marriage as an anticipation and an image of the perfect communion with God. The "you" that everyone ultimately seeks, is God: the spouse can not satisfy the limitless desire for love, the true wedding is the one with God

 

 

 

Patristic reading

Saint John Chrysostom (344/354 – 407)

Homily XXXII

 

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting Life."

 

[1.] Scripture calls the grace of the Spirit sometimes “Fire,” sometimes “Water,” showing that these names are not descriptive of its essence, but of its operation; for the Spirit, being Invisible and Simple, cannot be made up of different substances. Now the one Jn declares, speaking thus, “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with Fire” (Mt 3,11): the other, Christ, “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (Jn 7,38). “But this,” saith John, “spake He of the Spirit, which they should receive.” So also conversing with the woman, He calleth the Spirit water;1 for, “Whosoever shall drink of the water which I shall give him, shall never thirst.” So also He calleth the Spirit by the name of “fire,” alluding to the rousing and warming property of grace, and its power of destroying transgressions; but by that of “water,” to declare the cleansing wrought by it, and the great refreshment which it affordeth to those minds which receive it. And with good reason; for it makes the willing soul like some2 garden thick with all manner of trees fruitful and ever-flourishing, allowing it neither to feel despondency nor the plots of Satan, and quenches3 all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

 

And observe, I pray you, the wisdom of Christ,4 how gently He leads on5 the woman; for He did not say at first, “If thou knewest who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink,” but when He had given her an occasion of calling Him “a Jew,” and brought her beneath the charge of having done so, repelling the accusation He saith, “If thou knewest who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of Him”; and having compelled her by His great promises to make mention6 of the Patriarch, He thus alloweth the woman to look through,7 and then when she objects, “Art thou greater than our father Jacob?” He saith not, “Yea, I am greater,” (for He would have seemed but to boast, since the proof did not as yet appear,) but by what He saith He effecteth this. For He said not simply, “I will give thee water,” but having first set that given by Jacob aside, He exalteth that given by Himself, desiring to show from the nature of the things given, how great is the interval and difference between the persons of the givers,8 and His own superiority to the Patriarch. “If,” saith He, “thou admirest Jacob because he gave thee this water, what wilt thou say if I give thee Water far better than this? Thou hast thyself been first to confess that I am greater than Jacob, by arguing against Me, and asking, ‘Art thou greater than Jacob, that thou promisest to give me better water?’ If thou receivest that Water, certainly thou wilt confess that I am greater.” Seest thou the upright judgment of the woman, giving her decision from facts, both as to the Patriarch, and as to Christ? The Jews acted not thus; when they even saw Him casting out devils, they not only did not call Him greater than the Patriarch but even said that He had a devil. Not so the woman, she draws her opinion whence Christ would have her, from the demonstration afforded by His works. For by these He justifieth Himself, saying, “If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not; but if I do, if ye believe not Me, believe the works.” (c. x. 37, 38). And thus the woman is brought over to the faith.

 

Wherefore also He, having heard, “Art thou greater than our father Jacob,” leaveth Jacob, and speaketh concerning the water, saying, “Whosoever shall drink of this water, shall thirst again”; and He maketh His comparison, not by depreciating one, but by showing the excellence of the other; for He saith not, that “this water is naught,” nor “that it is inferior and contemptible,” but what even nature testifies that He saith: “Whosoever shall drink of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever shall drink of the Water which I shall give him, shall never thirst.” The woman before this had heard of “living Water” (v. 10), but had not known its meaning. Since because that water is called “living” which is perennial and bubbles up unceasingly from uninterrupted springs, she thought that this was the water meant. Wherefore He points out this more clearly by speaking thus, and establishing by a comparison the superiority (of the water which He would give). What then saith He? “Whosoever shall drink of the Water that I shall give him, shall never thirst.” This and what was said next especially showed the superiority, for material water possesses none of these qualities. And what is it that follows? “It shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” For as one that hath a well within him could never be seized by thirst, so neither can he that hath this Water.

 

The woman straightway believed, showing herself much wiser than Nicodemus, and not only wiser, but more manly. For he when he heard ten thousand such things neither invited any others to this hearing, nor himself spake forth openly; but she exhibited the actions of an Apostle, preaching the Gospel to all, and calling them to Jesus, and drawing a whole city forth to Him. Nicodemus when he had heard said, “How can these things be?” And when Christ set before him a clear illustration, that of “the wind,” he did not even so receive the Word. But the woman not so; at first she doubted, but afterwards receiving the Word not by any regular demonstration, but in the form of an assertion, she straightway hastened to embrace it. For when Christ said, “It shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting Life,” immediately the woman saith,

 

 

 

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[1]  It is for this reference to baptism that today this text is chosen. Lent, above all in past centuries, was for the catechumens the time of preparation to the baptism received at Easter