Getting 'God Glasses'

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It’s hard for me to consider Sunday Mass at St. Joseph the Worker Parish as a pilgrimage. Getting there is no hardship – I have only to drive a few minutes. Being there is nothing new – I’ve visited on several notable occasions, such as Sr. Fabian Uriot’s farewell in 2009, the 2011 dedication of the new church, the celebration of the parish’s 50th anniversary in 2014. Several of the parishioners are friends, and I work with one of the deacons. I know the history behind the murals on the wall that depict scenes of social justice issues: the agricultural workers in the field; the image of Pope Pius XI, who wrote  Studiorum Ducem, Quadragesimo Anno and two other encyclicals dealing with social justice issues; the memorial wall in the narthex containing the names of early parishioners.

All of this made it difficult to attend Mass at St. Joseph the Worker as a pilgrim in the spirit of the Year of St. Joseph, which was declared by Pope Francis on Dec. 8. In honor of this special year, Bishop Oscar A. Solis has dedicated as pilgrimage sites the three diocesan parishes named after the foster father of Jesus. I had already traveled to Ogden to attend Mass at St. Joseph Parish, and had a good discussion with fellow pilgrims about Patris Corde, the 2020 apostolic letter by Pope Francis in which he shares his personal reflections about the Guardian of the Redeemer, as St. John Paul II named St. Joseph.

I also had journeyed to St. Joseph Parish in Monticello, where the arduous aspects of the pilgrimage made me more thankful for the comforts I usually take for granted. Having done all this, going on pilgrimage to St. Joseph the Worker seemed anti-climatic. What would I find new in the familiar space, with friends whom I had seen only the week before?

My question was answered by Fr. Javier Virgen, pastor of St. Joseph the Worker Parish, who might have addressed his homily directly to me when he spoke of having “God glasses” with which to view the world. As the day’s first reading stated, “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.”

God makes all things new, he is still making all things new, and when we are able to see as God sees “all we can do is praise God for showing us a glimpse of heaven,” Fr. Virgen said, reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading about the man born blind.

Jesus opened the eyes of the blind man. I have my sight; that is, my eyes see. But I think in other ways I’m blind. In Patris Corde, Pope Francis speaks of St, Joseph being a father in the shadows – I wonder how many people are in the shadows of my life whom I never see. Pope Francis speaks of St. Joseph as a working father, and as working persons, “whatever their job may be, … cooperating with God himself, and in some way become creators of the world around us.” I wonder how many workers I fail to see, whose value and dignity I fail to acknowledge. St. Joseph is a creatively courageous father, Pope Francis said, a man who protected the innocent child and his mother. I wonder how many fathers I never see, who are doing their best to provide for their own children.

The story of the man born blind is one that reminds us of our baptismal commitment to constant conversion, Fr. Virgen said, and if we are sincere about this commitment we must ask God to open our eyes.

Jesus, I am blind; help me to see.

Marie Mischel is editor of the Intermountain Catholic. Reach her at marie@icatholic.org.