The Gift of New Eyes

In his homily today, my pastor, Fr. Boettner, described how things seen from an airplane look different; how differences and divisions dissolve when viewed from way up high in the sky. This is the view we get from Isaiah's 'holy mountain,' as we see in today's first reading.(Isaiah 11:1-10)

Father Boettner went on to share that our soul has two eyes. With one eye of our soul we look down. With the other eye of our soul we look up; we get God's vision of us and our world with this eye. We need the upward vision of this second eye to help the first eye we see each other with to see better. Without this upward vision our view of one another can be very blurred. We need the light of love that is from above to heal our blindness.

On the way home from Mass, I began thinking about a song written by Julie Gold titled From a Distance. The lines are poignant:

From a distance, you look like my friend,

Even though we are at war.

From a distance, I just can't comprehend,

What all this fighting is for.

From a distance, there is harmony,

And it echoes through the land.

It's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves;

It's the heart of every man.

It's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves;

This is the song of every man.

And God is watching us, God is watching us;

God is watching us from a distance.

And God is watching us, God is watching us;

Oh God is watching us from a distance.

On Christmas morning, we will remember the incarnation, when God came real close to us with skin of our skin and flesh of our flesh; yet without sin. Jesus comes to restore in us God's vision of us and of our world. We need a clearer vision of one another. For Christmas this year, let's ask God for the gift of new eyes. What a wonderful gift it would be if we could see each other through the eyes of God.