The blind man today represents all of us. Jesus looks upon us with compassion, for we are broken. This man's is broken by being blind from birth. All of us, in our souls, are broken by Original Sin. Original Sin is not a sin by which we are ourselves responsible, but is still a reality we have to live with. We are blind and broken in lots of ways, as the Catechism describes in pars. 399 & 400:
399 Scripture portrays the tragic consequences of this first disobedience. Adam and Eve immediately lose the grace of original holiness. They become afraid of the God of whom they have conceived a distorted image—that of a God jealous of his prerogatives.
400 The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul’s spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination. Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile to man. Because of man, creation is now subject “to its bondage to decay.” Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience will come true: man will “return to the ground,” for out of it he was taken. Death makes its entrance into human history.(1607, 2514, 602, 1008)
If you have any doubts of this brokenness from birth, put a few 2- or 3-year olds down by some toys and sit back and watch. Eventually there will be stealing, hitting, and wailing and tears. That's the fallen humanity that Jesus looks upon today and reaches out to heal. And he doesn't do it just for some "generic" humanity. Jesus looks at you, comes to you, and heals you in the specific ways that you need it. We all have specific wounds, unique pains, and particular defects that need healing, comforting, and strengthening by Christ.
Try to imagine your life without Christ Jesus. What parts of your life has He changed for the better? I don't know where I would be without God, without a loving Father in Heaven who has promised me a future; without a Savior who would have died on the Cross if I was the only sinner in the world; without the Holy Spirit who is poured into my heart and has shared with me His own divine life so I can become like Jesus, too. Where would I be if I didn't know that love was at the center of the universe, was the very thing holding it all in existence? What would my relationships look like? Would I have ever learned to forgive those who hurt me the most? Would I be living only for possessions or popularity or power? Would my sins have gotten the best of me and perhaps even taken my life early?
Life without Jesus, brothers and sisters, isn't life at all. This is what Saint Paul is talking about when he says: “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
This began for each of us at our Baptism, when we were "enlightened" by Christ, who opens our eyes and starts that journey of healing and restoration that continues throughout our life and will only be complete when we are in heaven and truly see Him face to face. The more we confess our blindness and our need for healing, the more we live life as it was meant to be. Today, we come before the Lord Jesus once again, when from this altar the Lord looks upon our brokenness with compassion and wishes to meet every one of us to heal us. Will we let Him heal us? Thankful for all Christ has done and all he will do, we once again beg the Light of the World to continue to heal us more and more from our blindness, so we may live fully in His Truth and His Love.
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