Fanny Crosby and the Blessed Providence of God

Readings for the Feast Day of Fanny Crosby

• Isaiah 42:10-12, 16
• 1 Peter 1:3-9
• John 9:35-39
• Psalm 108:1-6

This reflection was shared at the monthly gathering of Associates and Oblates of the Community of the Transfiguration on February 7, 2019, in honor of Sister Diana Dorothea who became the official Lent Madness Hymn Writer in Residence (!).

Last Friday (Feb 1), the Episcopal Church celebrated the Feast Day of St. Brigid, the most beloved saint of Ireland after St. Patrick. According to one story, St. Brigid of Kildare healed one of her religious companions of blindness so that she could enjoy the colors of a beautiful sunrise. After being healed and looking at the sunrise, the companion turned to Brigid and said, “Please close my eyes again, dear Mother, for when the world is so visible to the eyes, God is seen less clearly to the soul.”

Today, we celebrate one of the most prolific hymn writers, Fanny Crosby who was blind since she was a little girl. The Gospel reading appointed for her feast day is the conclusion of John chapter 9, which begins with Jesus’s disciples seeing a man born blind and asking Jesus who is to blame for this ailment: the blind man himself or his parents (9:2). Throughout the chapter, Jesus shows the disciples and us that those ailments for which we seek a culprit to bear the blame are actually opportunities for divine intervention and invitations into a deeper relationship with God. According to Sandra Schneiders, “Our helpless situation is the ‘place’ where God can reach us, the occasion for God’s saving action in our lives.”[1] Jesus invites the disciples and us to see potential sources of resentment as invitations to deeper intimacy with our loving Creator. Throughout the history of Christian spirituality, this insight has been the source of profound healing and serves as part of Jesus’s response to the question of suffering.[2] And sometimes divine healing does not necessarily involve the removal of a supposed ailment like blindness, but rather a new perspective that invites an integration and even an appreciation for that which was initially considered a “disorder.” Fanny Crosby understood this when she said, “It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me…If I had a choice, I would still choose to remain blind…for when I die, the first face I will ever see will be the face of my blessed Saviour.”

[1] Schneiders, Written That You May Believe, 162.

[2] For more on the Christian spirituality of seeing potential sources of resentment as invitations to deeper intimacy with God, see: Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World (New York: Crossroad, 1992), 77. Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer (New York: Crossroad, 1999), 166. Wil Hernandez, Henri Nouwen: A Spirituality of Imperfection (Mahwah NJ: Paulist Press, 2006), 80.