WHO SPILLED THE COFFEE?
I was conducting a Bible class to a group of parishioners. They had planned that, each day, one of them would bring a cake and a pot of coffee to be shared after the class. The meeting had ended and people were gathering their things. In this moment I heard something, I looked and saw coffee on the floor. Being very «righteous» I looked and the first thing that came to my mouth was a question: «Ho… who spilled that coffee? ».
When I asked the question there was a lady already cleaning the floor. Without raising her head, she answered:
«Father, now we don’t ask who spilled the coffee. Now we clean it».
Today´s gospel reminds me of the story of the «spilled coffee».
«As Jesus went along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. His disciples asked him:
«Rabi, who sinned, this man or his parents, for him to have been born blind? » (Jo. 9: 1-2)
I heard many years ago a conference delivered by the captain of an Airlines Company. And one thing that I never forgot was what he said about «blaming». He said that this society will be remembered as the «blaming society». If something goes wrong, very often the first reaction is not
to solve the situation. If something goes wrong the first reaction is to find whom to blame. It seems that the normal reaction should be: «What can I do to solve this problem?» or «What can I do to help»? But the most common reaction is: «Who did that»? «Whose fault is it»? «I am glad I was not there. They cannot blame me». «Who spilled the coffee? ». «Who sinned?
In this story of the blind man, it seems that there was a conspiracy to hurt and humiliate Jesus and to hurt and humiliate the blind man. It seems that the first reaction should be of compassion for the blind man. Besides he was not just blind but also very poor. He was a beggar. The second reaction should be of joy and celebration. They had all the reasons to celebrate and rejoice. A member of their community whom they knew very well had been blind duringa ll his life and now by Jesus’ intervention he can see.
«It’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. »
2.
THE WORST BLINDNESS IS TO HAVE EYES AND NOT SEE
I was driving my car, with two ladies inside, in one of the busiest streets of Funchal. It was 2PM on one of the hot summer days. It was very very hot. On the sidewalk there was a man sleeping under that sun, covered with a heavy coat. One of the ladies said: «Look at that man laying down
under this hot sun». And then she added:
«But nobody stops. Nobody stops. They don’t even look at him. They don’t even see him».
We all have blind spots that prevent us from paying attention to the human tragedies, and all
kinds of human suffering. LORD HELP ME TO SEE.
Love and Peace
Fr. Bernardino Andrade Andrade