Fr. Jorge Miró shares with Exaudi readers his commentary on the  Gospel for Sunday, March 15, 2026,  entitled, “Christ is the light”

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Today we celebrate the Sunday called  Laetare,  the Sunday of  joy , because we sing in the entrance antiphon:  Rejoice ,  Jerusalem, gather together, all you who love her, rejoice, you who were sad, so that you may exult; you will nurse at her breasts and be satisfied with her consolations  (cf.  Is  66:10).

What is the cause of so much joy?  Saint Paul told us in the second reading:  You were once darkness,  but now you are light through the Lord.

In the Gospel we contemplate the miracle of the  healing of the man born blind . In the  man born blind, all  of humanity   is represented  : we all live in the deepest darkness until we encounter Jesus  and allow Him to illuminate our hearts.  When Jesus illuminates our hearts, the darkness vanishes and we see clearly , although the threat of darkness is ever-present. Therefore,  the Christian life is a constant struggle between light and darkness.

As a  consequence of original sin ,  human nature is not totally corrupted: it is wounded in its own natural powers, subject to ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death and inclined to sin  (cf.  Catechism  405) .

The doctrine of original sin is, so to speak, “the reverse” of the Good News that  Jesus is the Savior  of all men, that  all men need salvation  and that salvation is offered to all through Christ  (cf.  Catechism  389) .

Jesus is the light  , and he gives us the light that allows us to see.  The miracle is like an explanation of  baptism , which makes us capable of seeing:  just as Adam was created from the dust of the earth, Christ made mud with his saliva, smeared it on the blind man’s eyes, and told him to wash them with water, and the blind man began to see…  In baptism, Christ recreates us ; we begin a new life.

We begin a journey, a pilgrimage that will culminate when we reach our goal: heaven. It is a  path of  growth  and  conversion . The blind man undergoes a process, a journey, that begins by believing that Jesus is a prophet, then recognizes him as someone who comes from God, and finally confesses that he is the Messiah and prostrates himself before him.

Today, Jesus asks you and me the same question he asked the man born blind:  Do you believe in the Son of Man?

On this Lenten journey, the Word invites you to come out of the darkness and seek the light that is Christ . It invites you to examine your life in the light of the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Church, and to see if your life aligns with the light that is Christ, or if there are still dark areas that need illuminating.  Walking in the light  means not letting yourself be guided by the blindness of your instincts and passions, but  living guided by the Word of God.  As Saint Paul told us:  live as children of light . Seek what pleases the Lord, without taking part in the fruitless deeds of darkness.

And so you will be able to live the experience that Saint Paul describes:  “Awake, O sleeper,  arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”  You will be able  to see  how, illuminated by Jesus Christ, you have life, and life in abundance, and you can live singing the psalm: “   The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want… He restores my soul… I fear no evil, for you are with me… You anoint my head with oil… Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”

Because faith  is the attitude that characterizes a disciple,  it establishes a personal relationship with Jesus . A relationship  that ,  through the gift of the Holy Spirit, gives you new eyes,  a new heart in which you can trust and find rest.

Come, Holy Spirit!