In the Gospels, we see Jesus perform several healings. He heals lame people, deaf people, mute people, people with leprosy, and two women who for different reasons are unable to become pregnant. What’s important to see in these various miracles is that, almost always, there’s more at issue than mere physical healing. Jesus is healing people in a deeper way, that is, he is healing the lame so that they can walk in freedom and in service of God. He is healing the deaf so that they can hear the Good News. He is healing the mute so that they can open their mouths in praise. He is healing those who are hemorrhaging internally so that they can bring new life to birth. We see this most clearly at those times when Jesus heals people who are blind. He’s giving them more than just physical sight; he’s opening their eyes so that they can see more deeply. But that’s only an image. How might it be unpackaged? How can the grace and teachings of Jesus help us to see in a deeper way? G.K. Chesterton once affirmed that familiarity is the greatest of all illusions and that the secret to life is to learn to look at things familiar until they look unfamiliar again. We open our eyes to depth when we open ourselves to wonder. By shifting our eyes from seeing through paranoia and self-protection to seeing through metanoia and nurture. By shifting our eyes from seeing through jealousy to seeing through admiration. By shifting our eyes from seeing through bitterness to seeing through eyes purified and softened by grief. By shifting our eyes from seeing through relevance to seeing through contemplation. By shifting our eyes from seeing through anger to seeing through forgiveness. By shifting our eyes from seeing through longing and hunger to seeing through gratitude. Longing and hunger distort our vision. Gratitude restores it. It enables insight. The most grateful person you know has the best eyesight of all the people you know.[1]
[1] Excerpt from Fr. Ron Rolheiser’s reflection “Seeing in a Deeper Way,” March 2015.