seeing God and being seen, day 2

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
Then run, faithful souls, happy and tireless, keep up with your Beloved who marches with giant strides from one end of heaven to the other. Nothing is hidden from His eyes. He walks alike over the smallest blade of grass, the tallest cedars, grains of sand or rocky mountains. Wherever you go He has gone before. Only follow Him and you will find Him everywhere. (The Sacrament of the Present Moment by Jean-Pierre De Caussade)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 11

Scripture for the Day: Mark 9:1-10

Reading for Reflection:

For most of my life I have struggled to find God, to know God, to love God.  I have tried hard to follow the guidelines of the spiritual life—pray always, work for others, read Scriptures—and to avoid the many temptations to dissipate myself.  I have failed many times but always tried again, even when I was close to despair.

     Now I wonder whether I have sufficiently realized that during all this time God has been trying to find me, to know me, to love me.  The question is not “How am I to find God?” but “How am I to let myself be found by Him?”  The question is not “How am I to know God?” but “How am I to let myself be known by God?”  And finally, the question is not “How am I to love God?” but “How am I to let myself be loved by God?”  God is looking in the distance for me, trying to find me, and longing to bring me home.

     It might sound strange, but God wants to find me as much as, if not more than, I want to find God.   (The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri J. M. Nouwen)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Jesus Cast a Look on Me

Jesus cast a look on me, give me sweet simplicity. Make me poor and keep me low, seeking only Thee to know

All that feeds my busy pride, Cast it evermore aside. Bid my will to Thine submit, lay me humbly at Thy feet

Make me like a little child, of my strength and wisdom spoiled. Seeing only in Thy light, Walking only in Thy might

Leaning on Thy loving breast, where a weary soul can rest. Feeling well the peace of God, flowing from His precious blood.

Closing Prayer:
O Lord Jesus, I look at you, and my eyes are fixed on your eyes. Your eyes penetrate the eternal mystery of the divine and see the glory of God. They are also the eyes that saw Simon, Andrew, Nathanael, and Levi, the eyes that saw the woman with the hemorrhage, the widow of Nain, the blind, the lame, the lepers, and the hungry crowd, the eyes that saw the sad, rich ruler, the fearful disciples on the lake, and the sorrowful women at the tomb. Your eyes, O Lord, see in one glance the inexhaustible love of God and the seemingly endless agony of all people who have lost faith in that love and are like sheep without a shepherd.

      As I look into your eyes, they frighten me because they pierce like flames of fire my innermost being, but they console me as well, because these flames are purifying and healing. Your eyes are so severe yet so loving, so unmasking yet so protecting, so penetrating yet so caressing, so profound yet so intimate, so distant yet so inviting.

     I gradually realize that I want to be seen by you, to dwell under your caring gaze, and to grow strong and gentle in your sight. Lord, let me see what you see—the love of God and the suffering of people—so that my eyes may become more and more like yours, eyes that can heal wounded hearts. (Intimate Moments with the Savior by Ken Gire)