Clothed in Virtue

  Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Lent Gospel: John 9:1-38 "That man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me: Go to the pool of Siloe, and wash. And I went, I washed, and I see." -John 9:11 A man born blind is cured by Jesus.  Jesus spits on the ground to make clay, then rubs the clay in the blind man's eyes.  He tells the blind man to wash in the pool called Siloe, which means 'sent out.'  The man washes and comes out able to see, cured of his blindness.     St. Augustine comments on this passage: "Both the works and the word of our Lord Jesus Christ are to be marveled and wondered at: the works, because they were really accomplished, the words because they are signs.  If we consider the miracle of the man born blind we shall see that he represents the human race.  In the case of the first man, his blindness was brought about by sin, and from him we have all derived the seeds not only of our mortality, but also of o...

Matthew 15:21-28      At that time Jesus went from thence, and retired into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold a woman of Canaan who came out of those coasts, crying out, said to him: Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David: my daughter is grievously troubled by the devil. Who answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying: Send her away, for she crieth after us: And he answering, said: I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel. But she came and adored him, saying: Lord, help me. Who answering, said: It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs. But she said: Yea, Lord; for the whelps also eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters. Then Jesus answering, said to her: O woman, great is thy faith: be it done to thee as thou wilt: and her daughter was cured from that hour. Today, on the Thursday after the First Sunday of Lent, we have another Gospel emphasizing ho...