Wednesday, March 22 : Saint Irenaeus of Lyons

To the man who had been blind from birth He gave sight, not by means of a word but by an outward action; doing this not without a purpose or because it so happened, but that He might show forth the hand of God which at the beginning had moulded man. And therefore, when His disciples asked Him for what cause the man had been born blind, whether for his own or his parents’ fault, He replied: “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” Now the work of God is the fashioning of man. For, as Scripture says, He made [man] by a kind of process: “And the Lord took clay from the earth and formed man.” (Gn 2,7). Wherefore also the Lord spat on the ground and made clay and smeared it upon the eyes, pointing to the original fashioning [of man], how it was effected, and manifesting the hand of God to those who can understand by what [hand] man was formed out of the dust… And inasmuch as man, with respect to that formation which, after Adam had fallen into transgression, needed the layer of regeneration, [the Lord] said to him [upon whom He had conferred sight], after He had smeared his eyes with the clay: “Go to Siloam, and wash;” thus restoring to him both [his perfect] confirmation and that regeneration which took place by means of the smearing. And so when he had washed he emerged seeing that he might both know Him who had fashioned him and might learn [to know] Him who has conferred life upon him … But He, the very same who formed Adam at the beginning, with whom also the Father spoke, [saying], “Let Us make man after Our image and likeness,” revealing Himself in these last times to men, formed visual organs for him who had been blind [in that body which he had derived] from Adam.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team