Note: I'm traveling for a couple of conferences over the next week, so this blog will probably lie dormant until Advent I.
“Lord,
let me see.” What a prayer! Let me see.
How much depth, beauty, awe and wonder is there to the world that we do
not see! We believe that every marvel of
nature was lovingly crafted by God, but how often do we miss His
fingerprints? We believe that every
human was made in the image and likeness of God, immeasurably precious in His
eyes, but how we view another person as an inconvenience or distraction from
what’s really important? We believe that
Love has conquered, that sin and death have are powerless, that the world is
being redeemed, standing on tiptoes to see the coming glory, but how often do
we give in to the prophets of doom, lapse in our hope, and content ourselves to
the blinkers of pessimism and cynicism. “Lord,
please let me see.”
A
phrase that has long fascinated me from our Holy Cross Constitutions and that I
quote often is: “we see by dawn’s first light, and we long for fullness of day.” We long to see the world as it truly is,
bathed in the light of grace. It’s not
the grace that’s weak, it’s our sight. “Lord,
please let me see.”
“Have
sight.” God’s word does not return
empty. “Have sight.”
God
granted sight to Rose Philippe Duchesne.
She lived a challenging life as a teacher to in the mission territory of
North America, because she could see Christ in children she taught. There’s nothing else that could have
sustained her to go to the lengths she went to to give the gift of education
than that in the children, both European and Native, that she taught, she
encountered Christ, Christ who gave her sight to see Him. How could she walk away from that, however
tough life got?
God
granted sight through Rose Philippe Duchesne.
The Potawatomi gave her a name which in their language meant “woman who
prays always.” They could see in her a
woman on fire with love for God, who let herself be carried by God, who delighted
to meet Him in prayer. That’s a witness
the world needs: of someone thoroughly involved in the struggles of the world
who lived a visible life of prayer. If
someone can’t see God, maybe they can see His reflection in the eyes of someone
who gazes at Him lovingly in prayer.
God
grants sight to and through the saints.
They can be windows through which our vision might become more and more
attuned to the glory in store for us in Christ, windows through which the light
of day may break. Have sight.
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