I am the Light of the World
February 10, 2025
In medical school, students are reminded that we possess five senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. Imagine growing up blind. If that prospect is not bad enough, imagine growing up blind and deaf. This was the life of a woman named Helen Keller.
In her autobiography entitled, Helen Keller, The Story of My Life, she explains how she learned to communicate without the ability to hear or see. It was quite interesting reading how she learned what love is which we know is God (1 John 4:8).
At the end of the final chapter she writes, “Thus it is that my friends have made the story of my life. In a thousand ways they have turned my limitations into beautiful privileges, and enabled me to walk serene and happy in the shadow cast by my deprivation.”
When Jesus encountered a blind man on the road and asked him what he wanted Him to do, the blind man cried out, “Lord, please let me see” After restoring his sight Jesus said, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.” With this passage Jesus reminds us that the other way of seeing is by faith (Luke 8:41-42).
Faith is a way of seeing and knowing things without the evidence of science (Hebrews 11:1). Faith conformed with charity is what saves us (James 2). This is why seeing by faith is more important than what happens when light is picked up by our rods and cones and then is transmitted neurologically to the optical cortex.
One may have 20/20 vision but if he or she lacks the vision of faith, they are in profound darkness. When Jesus talked about the Pharisees who were blind spiritually, He said, “If a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a pit” (Mt 15:14). And at another time He said, “If your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be” (Mt 5:23). This is the ultimate tragedy of our time. The world is full of people who are blind to the true presence of God.
The true end of exercising our priestly character given to us at baptism is speaking for God, spreading the Good News of the Gospel. By doing so we help people see the true light which is Jesus Christ who said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). When we share our faith with others in love, we are true physicians seeking to restore, by the grace of God, the sight of the blind among us. We can then be true friends that help make the life of others.
National Chaplain Fr. Christopher Kubat, M.D. is the pastor of St. Andrew Catholic Church in Tecumseh, Nebraska and St. Mary Catholic Church in St. Mary, Nebraska. He serves as a member of CMA’s Health Care Policy Committee, Ethics Committee, Awards Committee and Executive Committee.