In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Before we leave Pascha
time, this Wednesday, as we enter into the time
of the Ascension. And there will be a lot to
say about ascension. The church gives us one
final Paschal lesson. The man born blind. Ninth
chapter of John. You just heard the account,
so I won't review it. I won't repeat it. You
know it's about vision, right? You know there
are all kinds of visions. I can see you all now.
Quite clearly, my eyes work. The light is shining,
the shadows and the light, so I can see you.
There's that kind of vision. There's also the
kind of seeing as in, you tell me something,
I say, I see what you mean. Then there's the
kind of sight. Spiritual vision, perception,
understanding, apprehension, whatever you want
to call it. They call it noetic sight. the faculty
of our nous, the eye of the heart. And only Christ,
only Christ can enable that kind of vision for
us. You can be a brilliant person, like the Pharisees
in the account we heard, brilliant, studied.
They knew their scriptures. They were disciples
of Moses as they boasted, but they could not
see. It was insane, actually. And this blind
man would start to teach them. Do you also, and
he says sarcastically, I believe, do you also
want to be his disciples, which makes him very
angry. So we have this kind of vision, this kind
of spiritual vision, that Jesus confers on those,
on us. We had chrismations. That's the beginning
of that. That's the fulfillment of that. Those
who really desire to know him. To keep his commandments.
To see his providence. To be obedient to him.
And it begins with seeing not visions and angels
and demons and crazy stuff. If that happens,
come to confession. We'll have a good conversation.
No, it begins with seeing myself. Being accountable.
to God, and to other people for my own actions,
my words, and my thoughts. It's that kind of
seeing. It's our sins. Yes, we start to see our
sins. But we also, at the same time, because
it's the light of God, we start to see his love
and his providence, his guidance in our life,
his mercy. We do not want to be in the position
of saying, I see. But we're actually blind to
the truth. We hear what Jesus says about that.
Just after this selection ends, Jesus says this
in the gospel. For judgment, that is for justice,
to make things right. I came into this world
that those who do not see may see. And those
who see, who say they see, may be blind. I read
about the late Father George Calciu, a Romanian
priest and confessor for the faith, who suffered
for a long time in those frightening and brutal
Romanian communist prisons, being tortured for
years and years, witnessing to his faith, always
witnessing to his faith. I read about how he
was given a gift of seeing truly the light of
God. He was brought up by his mother, a very
pious, devout woman, brought up in the church.
He learned to pray. She taught him how to pray.
She taught him how to pray and to be at the divine
liturgy, which is a very special thing, which
we need to teach ourselves and our children how
to do. to pay attention to the hymns and the
prayers and the service and the action. He writes
about how he perceived God's light. And I'll
quote. He says this. Before I read it, remember
that this event in his life sustained him through
terrible years of suffering. He said this, when
I was eight years old, I was standing in front
of my parents' land on their farm. I remember
this exactly. I had been followed by this image
all my life. It was especially strong during
my imprisonment. I was looking over the fence.
I was looking over the fence, and the field of
wheat was very great. And I was really moved
in my soul. thinking about God who created the
world. And I was remembering what the priest
had said the previous Sunday at church. And I
was remembering what my mother had said to me.
And then in a moment, in a moment, I realized
that the field was full of light. I could not
understand what it was. This light had no shadow.
And I could see all the details. But only in
light, not in shadow. I was petrified. I don't
know how long I was there. Maybe a long time.
And then I recovered. And the field was normal.
When I was a student in high school, I told my
mother about it. She ate what he had this. And
she was not astonished. I suppose she knew something
about it, but she only made the sign of the cross
on me. Then to my surprise, she kissed my hand.
I did not understand this at the time. Later
I understood that she was kissing not my hand,
but the body of this child who had seen the light
of God and would be a priest. We hear repeatedly
during Great Lent, the light of Christ illumines
all. Saint Simeon says, he who does not see the
light of God is not yet truly alive. This is
not about seeing different things. This is about
seeing things differently. God's light in all
of creation. Once we had a baptism here. A number
of people. And the young man, they had moved
long ago. He's still very much in the church.
He told me after we had come in from the church
and circled the gospel, singing, as many as have
been baptized into Christ have put on Christ,
that when he entered the church, he said this
to me later, a week later. He said, I saw all
the people in the church, and I saw them with
some kind of strange vision that God loves every
single person. an immeasurable, infinite amount
of love, and there was light around each person.
He said it was just for a moment, but it was
so startling. He said it was from God. The light
of Christ illumines all. Can we begin to see
how God's providence guides us? If we want to
see that, we not only need to remember to give
thanks to God for all things, like this eight
-year -old boy standing in front of this immense
wheat field. And then, all of a sudden, it's
just filled with God's grace. It's constant state.
It's not a new thing that he saw. It's the way
the world is all the time. We only see the garbage
because we watch, many of us, too much news.
We're on the internet too much. We are becoming
programmed by society rather than by the gospel.
Leave that stuff aside and absorb the gospel
and the writings of the fathers in the church.
If it's so important in this world, you will
find out. You don't need the news to tell you.
In the account of the gospel, when Jesus takes
the dust off the road and makes mud with his
spit, The man in this gospel, born blind, he
had no eyeballs. The man had no idea what was
happening. Nobody's saying to you, oh, come here,
fellow. We're going to do something for you.
It just happened. And Jesus is saying, I am the
light of the world. If any man comes after me,
he lives. Otherwise, you're in darkness. This
is what I mean by only Christ can confer this
kind of noetic spiritual vision to us. And Jesus
offers no explanation to this man. He says nothing
about the reason for this man's blindness. He
doesn't warn about what's going to happen with
the Pharisees and that he will be kicked out
of the synagogue. He's told to go and wash. And
the man begins the difficult and crowded mile
and a half. on a not even road, probably more
potholes than Montgomery Drive, towards the pool
of water, to trust that there is water there.
He does not argue. He does not negotiate. He
does not say, but what if it doesn't work? You're
telling me to do this thing. I have no idea.
What if my life becomes complicated? This is
just stupid. Just say the word. I'll be healed.
But he puts himself under Christ's lordship.
And he walks, and he washes, and he receives
his sight, the eyes of his heart, his noetic
sight, his vision, his true vision is restored
to him. Why do I say that? Because he worships
Christ at the end. Faith is given to him despite
the resistance he meets. St. John Chrysostom
reminds us that it is precisely in our trials
and our difficulties that God is present with
us. When we are struggling, God is present with
us. And then we grow spiritually through what
he permits to come to us, like this man. Like
a carbon becomes a diamond under pressure, so
we are formed by what we endure when God's grace
is with us. when we call upon him, when we say,
O Lord, thou art ever present and a ready helper
to me in my troubles. And that man, in a single
day, in a single hour, became a theologian and
a martyr, a witness before authorities of who
Jesus was. And here's what makes this man remarkable
for me. He witnessed, he said, he's a man. He
is a prophet. He is from God. He never saw Jesus
until the very end. He never saw him. His faith
was built entirely on what he experienced inwardly,
not by sight, and what he knows to be true. I
was blind, but now I see. That's our situation
too, is it not? We have not seen Christ with
our physical eyes. But we have seen those that
Christ dwells in. We have the God -inspired Gospels
from which Christ teaches us. We have the saints.
We have the baptismal water. We have the holy
chrism. We have the bread and the wine changed
into the body and blood of the Savior. We have
confession. We have prayer. We have the Jesus
prayer. This is the last lesson now as we leave
Pascha behind. The Pascha celebration, the Paschal
life, we never leave behind. And the church gives
this gospel to us as a challenge for four things.
Simple obedience. Honest testimony from what
you know. Courage when resistance comes to you
and reliance upon God. And worship. This is the
last lesson of the Pascha season. We heard this
prayer this morning, the prayer to keep the baptismal
garment undefiled for the newly illumined. That's
not poetry. That's a description of the struggle.
If we are true to Christ, if we are authentic
in our faith, one thing I know, that's the key.
I was blind, but now I see. Yes, you may be strange
to others in the best possible way. But you will
be awake. You will be spiritually present. You
will be aware of God's grace and love and truth,
even in an ordinary situation, standing in front
of a field of wheat. And you can see the glory
of his name. Christ is risen.