The other day at Mercy Home I was walking down the hallway that leads to our cafeteria. There was a pedestal with a plant on it, and I was in a hurry and not paying attention, and my elbow caught the plant and it went flying off into the hallway and smashed. So I went and I got a broom and a dustpan, and as I was coming back, two of our young men were on their way to the cafeteria. And I said to them, “Do you guys know what happened?” And one said to the other, “Yeah. He did it, Father.” I just found that fascinating. I said, “No, I did it.”

But the blaming is what I found very interesting, the blaming. And I’ve been thinking a lot about blaming lately, so much blaming goes on. You know, a couple of months ago we went through a pretty tough election in this country. And there were so much ranker and so much blaming and so much causing fault, and pointing the finger. None of that is helpful.

In the gospel today, there’s blaming going on. It’s his fault. No, it’s his fault. He was born in sin, his parents sinned. That’s what it says in the longer form of the gospel. They tried to make excuses, blaming, instead of seeing the good that is right before them. A man who was born blind can now see.

You know, the Tonti Council of the Knights of Columbus are celebrating mass right here, right now, in the chapel today. I have such admiration for the Knights of Columbus because they are people who don’t blame. They do the work of the gospel. The Tonti Council, the members that I know, they’re on the west side of Chicago working with the poor. They’re raising money to educate people who otherwise wouldn’t get a good education. They help us here at Mercy Home for Boys and Girls to help over 600 children entrusted to our care.

The work of the gospel is not about blaming. It’s about working together, to give of our gifts and our talents to enhance life. That’s what leads us to the Easter season, the celebration of the resurrected Christ.