Wednesday, August 7, 2013

To See Truly

Reflections on the book, "Theology and Sanity" by Frank Sheed.

Seeing, truly seeing involves seeing things not merely in and of themselves.  We see things in their context.  Not seeing an eye in a jar and calling it beautiful-- at least not AS beautiful as it might be within the context of a face, properly placed, with another eye on the same face.  This is to see an eye aright.



In the same way is it right to see all reality through the eyes of the Church as She beholds the face of God.  God, through all, in all, above all.  Just as the sun shines we do not merely see the sun alone but also all the things the sun illuminates.  So it is when we see all things as blessed and held in existence by God.  All things are seen, or should be seen, as "God-bathed."

To me this connects to the idea that St. Josemaria Escriva would often refer to as the, "Unity of Life."  I can't be a different person in China as I might be in Venezuela.  Of course my context would appear very different on the surface but my own eyes, hands and heart would remain the same.  I would be affected by my surroundings, no doubt about it...I might even relate to other people in my surroundings differently according to rules, language and customs but I would still as yet not cease to be me.  Beyond this, as a Catholic, I would not cease to be a child of God.

If I am at work, I am a child of God.  If I am at home, I am a child of God.  If I speak to my wife I speak to her as a husband and likewise speaking to my children I am a father.  In all of these various roles and places I am a child of God.  As a child of God I am simultaneously a son of the Church that He established which provides the only proper overarching context in which a child of God can live.  It is in God that we, "live, move and have our being." because, "everything is created by Him and everything is created for Him...He is the head of His body, the Church."  Yes, and "...the firstborn from among the dead."  Without Him we would cease to exist.

To be a child of God we have but ONE LIFE to live.  Therefore, whether we sit or stand; run or walk; speak Portuguese or order a Porterhouse at dinner....we are to, "do all for the glory of God...Who IS OUR Father.