John's Gospel, The Man Born Blind

This is the conclusion of Deacon Peter Hodsdon's homily at mass on Saturday:

That night in the woods, in the utter darkness, was quite frightening at first. We fingered the switches on our flashlights, but my friend said, “wait, just wait”. So we did. And slowly and gradually, as our eyes adjusted, we began to notice that there was indeed light, the light of a million stars. The fear ebbed away, replaced by awe and wonder. I was reading in the news just the other day that scientists have come to realize that their estimate of the number of stars in our universe has been wildly inaccurate. It’s not that they’ve over-estimated the number of stars – it’s quite the opposite. They’ve under-estimated the number of stars. They used to say that you could count a star for every person alive on the planet. Now, it appears that there is a star for every person who has ever lived on the planet since the dawn of time. And then some. Perhaps our ancestors are lighting our way in the darkness. But more so, there is light to be accessed, even when it appears on the outset that there isn’t any at all. We just need to be patient.
St. Paul tells us that we are light in the Lord. We cannot shine on our own, of course. We can only shine by reflecting the light of God, who by definition is beauty, goodness, and truth. So how clean is your mirror? Do you reflect God clearly and brightly? Do you need some spiritual Windex? We’re right at the apex of Lent today – we began 20 odd days ago, we have 20 to go. Fasting, prayer, and alms giving, the three “mirror polishers” of Lent, are still available. Pick them up and keep polishing. The light of the world needs bright mirrors to pierce the darkness. That’s you and me, that’s us!

From beginning to end, it was full of life lessons. Here's a link, should you wish to read the full text:themanbornblind
and a link to his sermons, always thought provoking,DeaconPeter