Seeing as God Sees - a reflection

What do we see when we look into the mirror? Our perceptions are shaped by our memories and experiences, including our burden of wounds and perceived unloveliness.

What if these are not our true selves? If we admit that our visions often become clouded, how can we see ourselves rightly? Tracing our steps back through time and memory, faith brings us further to that beginning, when we were first conceived in God’s mind. What might be the gaze of the One who brought us into being?

It is the same gaze that captivated Matthew, causing him to abandon everything he held dear to follow Jesus. If Matthew had resisted His gaze and turned inward to his pain and perceived unloveliness, his story would never be known.

We, too, long to reclaim this spiritual sight. Yet we know that shedding false images is painful, as we struggle to avail ourselves to God’s hidden but healing actions of regular sacraments and daily mental prayer.

But we believe that the struggle is worth it. Only when we live under the loving merciful gaze of God, allowing His gaze to become a growing and encompassing reality, can we find equanimity amidst the vicissitudes of life.

St. Matthew, pray for us!