Reflection for 15 March 2026: 4th Sunday of Lent (Year A), Laetere Sunday
“Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart” (1 Sam 16:7).
Dear Marian Helpers and Members of our Marian Family,
The theme of this Sunday’s readings is, without a doubt, sight and seeing. It’s one of the most powerful senses and how something, someone looks, is one of the first things we notice. It impacts our perception and opinion of them and looking at the world around us is one of the ways we take it all in and figure out our place in it.
Yet, our sight can be and often is incorrect…appearances can be deceiving, as the saying goes. We need to look beyond mere human sight and instead try to see with and through the eyes of the Lord. We often look at a person or a thing at what they appear to be: the Lord looks at them as they actually are.
We look at success; the Lord looks at the effort. We look at prestige; the Lord looks at love. We look at connections, influence, authority but the only connection the Lord is concerned about is our connection with Him and with each other.
David was a small shepherd boy, the ancient church in Ephesus was a small rag-tag group, and the man born blind was poor and ostracized. And what happened? David became the greatest king of God’s chosen people, Ephesus grew into a major centre of Christian life and learning with St. John the Evangelist as it’s bishop (and the home of the Blessed Virgin Mary), and the man born blind was not only healed by Jesus, but one of the first to declare Him as Lord. The Lord looked at their hearts and saw that they were open to His Spirit to work in their lives and bring about wonderful results and history-changing events.
More and more, try to see the world, others and (yourself) through eyes of the Gospel and pray that the Lord continually opens your eyes to the truth that the spiritual reality around us is just as important as the physical one. Maybe sometimes even more so.
As our sight is made clear and our eyes opened by the light of Christ, we set our eyes on Jesus, knowing that we walk not by sight, but by faith. Seeing sometimes can be wrong, but faith is never wrong but only strengthened as we move forward each and every day.
May God bless you now and always!
Fr Alex Pumphrey, MIC
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Contact Father Alex at info@divinemercy.org.uk
Please send us your prayer intentions during Lent! (click here). We will place them at the foot of our altar in the Divine Mercy Apostolate’s Chapel here in West Ealing, London and will remember them in our daily Chaplets of Divine Mercy.
