{"id":2593,"date":"2023-03-19T07:02:55","date_gmt":"2023-03-19T07:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/turveyabbey.org.uk\/blog\/?p=2593"},"modified":"2023-03-19T07:14:19","modified_gmt":"2023-03-19T07:14:19","slug":"fourth-sunday-in-lent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/turveyabbey.org.uk\/blog\/?p=2593","title":{"rendered":"Fourth Sunday in Lent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1 Samuel 16:1,6-7,10-13<\/strong>
John 9:1-41 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today’s Gospel of the man born blind had me searching for an article by liturgist Maxwell E. Johnson, entitled, Back Home to the Font: Eight Implications of a Baptismal Spirituality. <\/strong>He explores the liturgical year through the theology of Baptism and sees Lent as a time when we can imagine ourselves as catechumens in the Early Church:
‘Lent is about our annual retreat, our re-entry into the catechumenate and order of penitents in order to reflect on, affirm, remember, and re-claim that baptism.’<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, this week as we find ourselves by the pool of Siloam, we do so as catechumens seeking to re-engage with our baptismal calling. We stand and watch as the man born blind washes in the pool. Unlike the pool of Bethesda, this pool is not associated with miracle cures, it was simply a means of protecting Jerusalem’s water supply. But it is at this ordinary water source that an extraordinary journey begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We watch as the man washes and his sight is restored. Jesus disappears from the storyline and the man must now give an account of what has happened at the pool. His neighbours, the Pharisees and his parents all have questions. With each encounter there is a subtle progression in the man’s witness and faith. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We listen as the man moves from acknowledging that ‘a man called Jesus’ has cured him, to declaring that ‘he is a prophet’ and finally to a profession of faith, ‘Lord, I believe.’ Through the washing with water and his encounter with Christ the man is drawn into new life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We too are drawn into new life each Lent. Our baptismal calling was not once and for all. It is renewed each day and most especially in Lent. We are invited to see anew. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preaching to the newly baptised, St Ambrose says;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Go to Siloam.’ What is ‘Siloam’ It means (says the evangelist) ‘Sent’. In other words, then: Go to the fountain where they preach the Cross of Christ the Lord; go to the fountain in which Christ has paid the ransom for the sins of all.
You went, you washed, you came to the altar, you began to see what you had not seen before. In short, your eyes were opened in the fountain of the Lord and by the preaching of the Lord\u2019s Passion. You seemed previously to be blind of heart; now you began to see the light.’ <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where is Christ calling you to see anew this Lent?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 Samuel 16:1,6-7,10-13John 9:1-41  Today’s Gospel of the man born blind had me searching for an article by liturgist Maxwell E. Johnson, entitled, Back Home to the Font: Eight Implications of a Baptismal Spirituality. He explores the liturgical year through the theology of Baptism and sees Lent as a time when we can imagine ourselves … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Fourth Sunday in Lent”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monastic","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/turveyabbey.org.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/turveyabbey.org.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/turveyabbey.org.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/turveyabbey.org.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/turveyabbey.org.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2593"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/turveyabbey.org.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2666,"href":"http:\/\/turveyabbey.org.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2593\/revisions\/2666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/turveyabbey.org.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/turveyabbey.org.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/turveyabbey.org.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}