Blessed are the eyes that see

Good News Reflection
Tuesday of the First Week of Advent
December 1, 2009

Today's Readings:
Isaiah 11:1-10
Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17
Luke 10:21-24
http://www.usccb.org/nab/120109.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_12_01.mp3

Blessed are the eyes that see

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus tells his disciples: "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see." It would seem that today we are not so blessed, because we were born two thousand years too late to see Jesus in the flesh, face to face. But let's consider what we have seen with our own eyes.

Every day, if we're able to celebrate Mass, we see Jesus in the Eucharist. Well, no, we don't see him with our physical vision. It requires faith – and belief in thesupernatural power of God – to recognize that the bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Jesus during the consecration prayers. The eyes of our souls see him.

Every day, we see Jesus in others if we look past the garbage of sinfulness and unhealthy behaviors that they carry around like prized possessions. Jesus is not plainly visible; true vision requires faith. If we have true faith, the eyes of our souls find him within each person.

Every day, if we prayerfully observe what God is doing in our lives, we see the hands of Christ reaching out to us, embracing us, helping us, feeding us, taking our burdens upon himself, and healing us – through the people around us. The eyes of our souls see his love coming to us through others, and we realize that we are being blessed.

We're blessed because we live in the joy of Christ. His light has penetrated the darkness of the world in which we live, and this is reason for great joy. His light has overcome the darkness that once caused us to stumble and wander off onto wrong paths. Because of this light, we can see! We can see that God truly loves us, we can see that he is helping us, we can see the next step that he wants us to take on our journey toward heaven.

In our private prayer times, Jesus visits us directly. But this is too quiet. There's no physical touch. It's only mystical. Sometimes we experience supernatural joy in these moments, but we need more than that. We are flesh and blood creatures who need a flesh and blood God in order to feel his hugs.

So Jesus also comes to us through others. He helps us to escape from darkness through the invitation of those who live in his light. When we have difficulty seeing how the Lord is answering our prayers, for example, he puts someone in our path who can show it to us or guide us to it.

However, to benefit from his visits and see his presence and feel his hugs and hear his voice, we have to open ourselves to Christian community. The Church is, after all, theBody of Christ on earth.

What do you need to see today? God has blessed your vision, but if you still can't see him, watch for him to shine his light through someone else – perhaps even the person you least expect to show the glow!

© 2009 by Terry A. Modica
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