Spiritual Blindness
Confronted as we are today with a seemingly great darkness everywhere, we may be tempted to despair. On the one hand, we can acknowledge that mankind, especially in the West, has made hugely significant developments in technology generally, which one can certainly marvel at. On the surface it seems a lot of this progress is serving the human good. But on the other hand, we have to ask ourselves have we made this progress with or without God? Has mankind been in similar circumstances before and what happened then? “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.”
Thus said the Preacher at the beginning of the Book of Ecclesiastes. In the Book of Genesis, we have an account of the Tower of Babel. The whole earth had one language and few words. “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves …”, the people said. But the
Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language … and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.” The Lord confused their language so they could not understand one another. The people had sought to make a name for themselves, rather than to glory in the Name of the Lord.
Consequently, they had fallen into a spiritual blindness. It seems like we are now in an age of many ‘Towers’! At the root of the problem is a divorce between faith and reason.
In order for there to be a legitimate development of technology, one that is pleasing to the Lord, it is essential to seek His Will, in the Holy Spirit, and to seek His guidance. It is necessary to ponder frequently on the wisdom of the Scriptures, of Our Lady and of the saints. St Bernard warns us to move cautiously amidst the mysteries
of truth, not to seek after things too high for us, above our ability. “Walk in the Spirit”, he wrote, “not by the light of your own intelligence. … The doctrine of the Holy Spirit does not excite curiosity but rather enkindles charity.” Otherwise, we may end up building another Tower of Babel for ourselves. Again, this is a spiritual blindness, a pride that seeks to dominate and control rather than seeking to be ‘gift’ to others in charity and humility. Scientists, unfortunately, have a lot of pressure on them, forcing them to play a type of ‘king of the mountain’, if they wish to obtain the fundings necessary for their research. This scenario too fosters pride rather than humility. In 1826, St John Henry Newman, as a young 25-yer-old, wrote in the first of his Oxford University Sermons the following, which I think ought to be ingrained in the heart of every scientist: “The humility and teachableness which the Scripture precepts inculcate are connected with principles more solemn and doctrines more awful (i.e. more awe-inspiring) than those which are necessary for the temper of mind in which scientific investigation must be conducted.” But the divorce between faith and reason has broken this association. Because growth in virtue pertains to the human spirit alone, the highest part of his soul and that place through which the infinite God communicates to him, it could never be emulated or improved upon by any advances in so called superhuman Artificial Intelligence, which is necessarily always finite and will never have a capacity for God. The spiritual blindness of the materialist will naturally not enable him to see this.
The healing of the blind man today contrasts physical and spiritual blindness. He was blind from birth, never saw the light of day or the faces of others. It was the view of the Pharisees that he must therefore have been born in ‘utter sin’, perhaps even the sin of his mother while he was still in her womb. The disciples ask for clarification – who sinned, the man or his parents? Jesus clears the confusion by explaining that it is in order ‘that the works of God might be made manifest in him.” Here is the purpose of the miracle. Jesus, who is the Light of the world, restores his sight in a most mysterious way. We are reminded of the symbolic actions of several prophets of the OT. Note that Jesus does not question him first on his faith, whether he believes Jesus can heal him. Perhaps the smearing of mud over his eyes and the man’s subsequent obedience to His request marks a renouncement of a natural light in favour of the supernatural light Jesus has come to shine among us? It is not the mud that heals him. Firstly, the man shows a humble obedience to walk to the pool of Siloam to wash himself. The restoration of his physical sight at the washing can be seen as a type of baptism, receiving the Divine Light of Faith. He confronts the interrogation of the Pharisees with complete certainty, to the extent of not fearing being cast out of the Synagogue. His parents were afraid to do this. The spiritual blindness of the Pharisees prevented them from believing in the miracle. They argued that Jesus could not be from God simply because He performed this healing on the Sabbath. The man healed openly professes his belief in the Son of Man and worships Him. Jesus declares: “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” There is a growth in the faith of the blind man, which is the greater miracle. St Augustine wrote that, in a spiritual sense, the man had first entered the rank of catechumens, which pre-supposes what he clearly had, the humility of a disposition to accept the command of Jesus. The Pharisees are not on such a journey. They think they already have the light of the true faith in God. But because they cannot recognize Jesus to be the Son of Man from the works He is doing, they are not on a true journey of faith. They are the ones who are really blind, that is, spiritually blind.
We must treasure the gift of our faith and rejoice in it. Today is ‘Laetare Sunday’, a mid-Lent special celebration in our continued journey toward Easter. The Church gives us this opportunity to rejoice with her for all the many blessings that God causes to flow through her. We are children of the Light and not of darkness. Within the Church, in communion with Our Lady and all the saints, we need to trust in God at all times and in His Divine Mercy. Despite all the challenges and temptations to unbelief we may encounter, especially those that come from a materialistic aspect of advances in science and modern technology, let us call to mind the prayer of St Teresa of Avila:
Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Whoever has God, lacks nothing.
God alone suffices.