“The Eyes That See What You See” by Melanie Rigney (@melanierigney)

“The Eyes That See What You See” by Melanie Rigney

Tuesday of the First Week of Advent

On that day, A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots, a bud shall blossom. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him: a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, A Spirit of counsel and of strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD, and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD. (Isaiah 11:1-3)

Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever. (Psalm 72:7)

Turning to the disciples in private he said, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it." (Luke 10:23-24)

Piety

Jesus, open my eyes to Your presence in my life.

Study

The Gospels have many accounts of Pharisees, Sanhedrin, scribes, and others who just couldn’t see. They were learned people, people who studied the Torah as if their lives depended on it but just couldn’t see how the prophecies were being fulfilled, right in front of them. Their lack of faith kept their eyes and ears closed.

Earlier this year, I heard a homily in which it was posited God is powerless without faith. I had trouble with that statement for quite a while. After all, if the Lord is all-powerful, how can something as seemingly small and intangible as our faith stop Him in His tracks?

I still haven’t come to a conclusion that I find completely satisfying, and maybe I never will. Maybe that’s the point. Maybe we really do prevent Him from working in our lives when we spend our time looking for what we think Jesus should be instead of accepting that He’s always there, all but begging us to have that tiny mustard seed of faith. We have before us the example of those who believed that nothing good ever came out of Nazareth and that a man whose genealogy included kings and prostitutes, outsiders and adulterers and who preached forgiveness could not possibly be the Messiah. They couldn’t see what generations before them had longed for, had yearned for, had realized on their deathbeds that He wasn’t coming in their time, and probably offered a prayer that their descendants would recognize Him when He arrived. But many didn’t, despite the evidence. Many still don’t today. Let’s keep our eyes and ears open to His grace so that we are not counted among them.

Action

Slow down today and open your eyes and ears to the Good News. It’s everywhere.

(Image credit: Publicdomainpictures via https://pixabay.com/en/close-up-communication-deaf-ear-18753/.)