See Clearly Now?

The topic of spiritual vision or how we see the action of God in our lives is woven throughout recent books of Franciscan Father Richard Rohr, The Naked Now and Falling Upward. In the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary for today, Hosea condemns the idol worship of the Kingdom of Israel. Friar JudeWinkler describes the historical situation of dynasties in the northern kingdom, Israel, which rose and fell often under the influence of the religious prophets. The decision to construct the idols of golden calves, against which Hosea fights, may have originally been intended as icons with which the faithful could direct their attention beyond the idol to the Presence of which the icon facilitates experience. The Presence is not always visible to our eyes. The psalmist today exhorts a trust in God which is beyond idols. The Gospel of Matthew presents at least two take-away ideas on vision and seeing. The mute man who is possessed is healed by Jesus. The Pharisees are deeply aware of the power of God over evil spirits yet they fail to see God at work here. Jesus is struck by the crowd described by Matthew as “harassed and helpless”. The prophetic gift of Christian Baptism is seeing with the eyes of God. Our inspired vision trusts in God to accept our ‘yes’ to become workers in the “harvest”. Our faith and trust is that following Him is the Way to bring in the harvest.