{"id":6293,"date":"2014-04-04T21:55:01","date_gmt":"2014-04-04T20:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=6293"},"modified":"2014-04-04T21:55:01","modified_gmt":"2014-04-04T20:55:01","slug":"4th-sunday-of-lent-30-03-14-intuition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=6293","title":{"rendered":"4th Sunday of Lent (30.03.14) Intuition"},"content":{"rendered":"

4th Sunday of Lent (30.03.14)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

INTUITION<\/strong><\/p>\n

Intuition is defined as the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning. It has a particular affinity with the spiritual.<\/p>\n

The \u2018spiritual\u2019 has two main classifications namely \u2018good\u2019 and \u2018evil\u2019, the former being of God and the latter of the devil. Earthbound human life, since the loss of innocence in the Garden of Eden, is attracted to both. We humans exercise continuous choice. When we respond to God\u2019s call, we activate a God-infused intuitiveness. Conversely, when we choose to pay attention to Satan, we absorb a devilish intuitiveness. Within us, there is never a vacuum; we are always moving either towards God or towards Satan.<\/p>\n

The Gospel for this 4th\u00a0Sunday of Lent highlights Jesus\u2019 intuitiveness. Note, neither the man \u2018blind from birth\u2019, nor anyone speaking on his behalf, is recorded as making a request for Jesus to give him sight. It was Jesus\u2019 disciples who drew their Master\u2019s attention to the blind man. They made his blindness the basis for their question about sin and its consequences, as it was portrayed in the Jewish teaching of the time.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 response makes it plain that innate disability is not, essentially, the result of sin:\u00a0\u201cNeither he nor his parents sinned.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0We now know what the people of Jesus\u2019 time did not know namely, that the many forms of innate disability have multiple genetic and\/or viral causes.<\/p>\n

The blind man, as far as we know, is silent throughout this exchange. Being blind, his listening was at a deeper level. He would listen to Jesus more acutely than even the disciples. What the blind man heard in Jesus\u2019 words, perhaps combined with what others may have told him previously about Jesus, may have stirred up his faith.<\/p>\n

The New Testament\u2019s \u2018Letter to the Romans\u2019 (8: 26-27) has a text that ties up with this feature of human intuitive faith:<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the Holy Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness, for, when we do not know how to pray properly, then the Spirit personally makes our petitions for us in outpourings that cannot be put into words; and the Father who can see into all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying because the prayers that the Spirit makes for us believers are always in accordance with the mind of God.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

How else can the placidness of the blind man be explained when Jesus, having made a clay paste with his own spittle and dry earth, proceeds to spread it on the man\u2019s unseeing eyes? More than that, when Jesus tells the blind man to make his way to the Pool of Siloam, he sets out on the difficult journey without a question. St. John reduces that lengthy, arduous pilgrimage to one sentence:\u00a0\u201c<\/em>So the blind man went and washed, and came back able to see.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Jesus always requires an act of faith from a potential recipient of a blessing or a physical healing or forgiveness. The required act of faith defines the line of respect Jesus shows for the free will with which God has endowed human nature. The blind man gave an unspoken demonstration of his faith in Jesus by allowing his eyes to be smeared and then, unquestioningly, undertaking that perilous journey. Jesus demonstrated his intuitive recognition of the blind man\u2019s faith. Without some demonstration of faith by a potential recipient, Jesus\u2019 presence can bring no miracles. When the adult Jesus went back to his hometown of Nazareth he was unable to heal and cure because of the people\u2019s (his people\u2019s) lack of faith in him. (Mark 6: 4-6)<\/p>\n

Spiritual intuition has consequences for us. God knows us through and through. He sees into the deepest recess of our heart and mind. Our soul is an open book to him. This is not an inquisitorial intrusion but the compassionate gaze of a Father whose unconditional love for us is deep enough for him to mandate his only Son to offer his life in exchange for our healing and salvation \u2013 in the hope that we will choose to avail ourselves of his offer.<\/p>\n

On our part, like the man born blind in today\u2019s Gospel, we live with the spiritual disability endemic in our race since our first parents chose to disobey God. Nevertheless, we continue to be made in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, we remain endowed with the Creator\u2019s gift of spiritual intuitiveness that allows us to recognise God\u2019s presence even when we cannot see him; even when, again like the man born blind, we do not know his name. We are all able to hear his voice in our heart when his word is proclaimed and when we choose to accept his healing touch. The choice remains ours as long as there is breath in our body and this world remains in existence.<\/p>\n

The Creator\u2019s gift of spiritual intuitiveness in us needs the nourishment of his healing presence. We know this intuitively even when this knowledge lies buried deep beneath the accumulated detritus of Satanic warfare. As the old adage expresses it: \u2018There are no atheists on a battlefield or in the midst of a force ten gale at sea\u2019. For \u2018battlefield\u2019 and \u2018gale at sea\u2019 read every imaginable disability, inherited or self-inflicted, known to the human race. A hymn composed by Jodi Page Clark comes to mind:<\/p>\n

\u2018Look around you, can you see?
\nTimes are troubled, people grieve.
\nSee the violence, feel the hardness;
\nAll my people weep with me.\u2019
\nKyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Walk among them, I\u2019ll go with you.
\nReach out to them with my hands.
\nSuffer with me, and together we will serve them,
\nhelp them stand.\u2019
\nKyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison.<\/em><\/p>\n

Forgive us, Father, hear our prayer.
\nWe would walk with you anywhere,
\nthrough your suffering, with forgiveness;
\ntake your life into the world.
\nKyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

4th Sunday of Lent (30.03.14) INTUITION Intuition is defined as the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning. It has a particular affinity with the spiritual. The \u2018spiritual\u2019 has two main classifications namely \u2018good\u2019 and \u2018evil\u2019, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archdiocese-of-liverpool"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6294,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6293\/revisions\/6294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}