Living Water, Light, and Life

Dear Friend,

This weekend we continue to pray for our Catechumens on this final leg of their journey to Baptism. At the 11am Mass they do a “Scrutiny”, which is a ritual following the homily that opens them (and all present) to the Spirit’s probing of the heart. According to the official instruction, the Scrutinies have the “double purpose” of revealing 1.) what is weak, sick or sinful in the hearts of the elect so that it can be healed; and 2.) what is honorable, strong and holy, so that it can be strengthened.”  

The Scrutinies are an invitation to all of us to make a more deliberate immersion into our Baptism: for the catechumens, into their actual baptism at the Easter Vigil; for the rest of us into a renewal of our baptism. For every follower of Christ baptism is meant to spill out, so to speak, into an active, life-giving discipleship.

As a champion of adult catechesis, the late James Dunning often pointed out that on scrutiny Sundays, we scrutinize not just the sins of the catechumens but the places where our political, economic, social and ecclesial communities and systems cause thirst, blindness and death, and also the places where we might be a community that offers Christ’s living water, light and life.” The prayer of exorcism in the scrutinies points to the power of Jesus Christ, whose ultimate act of exorcism, writes Nathan Mitchell, was the cross.

This week we hear from a man “born blind”. His eyes were opened to the power of a religious system resistant (ingeniously) to the power of God’s healing. For the first time as well, he saw the power of Jesus Christ. As you hear the Gospel this week, how is the Spirit opening the eyes of your heart? And to what “powers”? To what sources of light? 

Gratefully,

Father Dan ofm, Pastor