Tuesday December 5, 2023

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“True faith opens the eyes of our souls to find the presence of Christ within each person.”

Good News Reflection for:

Tuesday of the First Week of Advent
December 5, 2023

Today’s Prayer:

I praise You, Lord, because You have taken my life in Your hands and You have helped me to know Your name! Amen.

Subscribe to Today’s Saint Quote & Prayer:
gnm.org/SaintQuotes/

Today’s Readings:

Isaiah 11:1-10
Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17
Luke 10:21-24
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120523.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-december-5-2023

Blessed are the eyes that see

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus tells his disciples: “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.” It would seem that today we are not so blessed, because we were born two thousand years too late to see Jesus in the flesh, face to face. But let’s consider what we have seen with our own eyes.

Every day, if we’re able to celebrate Mass, we see Jesus in the Eucharist. Well, no, we don’t see him with our physical vision. It requires faith — and belief in the supernatural power of God — to recognize that the bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Jesus during the consecration prayers. The eyes of our souls see him.

Every day, we see Jesus in others if we look past the garbage of sinfulness and unhealthy behaviors that they carry around like prized possessions. Jesus is not plainly visible; true vision requires faith. True faith opens the eyes of our souls to find the presence of Christ within each person.

Every day, if we prayerfully observe what God is doing in our lives, we see the hands of Christ reaching out to us, embracing us, helping us, feeding us, taking our burdens upon himself, and healing us — through the people around us. The eyes of our souls see his love coming to us through others, and we realize that we are being blessed.

What good is seeing Jesus, however, if not for the purpose of following Jesus and partnering with him in the continuation of his earthly ministry?

We’re blessed because we’re united to Christ. His light has penetrated the darkness of the world in which we live, and this is reason for great joy. His light has overcome the darkness of our selfishness and the blindness that can cause us to stumble and wander off onto wrong paths.

Because of his light, we can see! We can see that God truly loves us; we can see that he is helping us, we can see what he is calling us to do next on our journey toward heaven, and we can see that he wants to change the world through us.

In our private prayer times, Jesus visits us directly. But this is too quiet. There’s no physical touch. It’s only mystical. Sometimes we experience supernatural joy in these moments, but we need more than that. We are flesh and blood creatures who need a flesh and blood God in order to feel his hugs.

So Jesus also comes to us through others. When we have difficulty seeing how the Lord is answering our prayers or what he is instructing us to do, we need to go to Christian companions and he will minister to us through them.

However, to benefit from his visits and see his presence and feel his hugs and hear his voice, we have to actively place ourselves in Christian community. The Church is, after all, the Body of Christ on earth.

What do you need to see Jesus doing for you today? God has blessed your vision, but if you still can’t see him, watch for him to shine his light through someone else — I guarantee that he is trying to reveal himself to you!

Reflect further on this using our video: “The Joy of Recognizing Jesus” @ https://gnm-media.org/joy-recognizing-jesus/

© 2023 by Terry A. Modica

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