Life is a beautiful gift, one that I have spent a little time over the last couple weeks thinking about more closely, as my niece has recently had a baby. This child, a precious little girl, is at the start of a journey that will last for all eternity. She is just now starting to view the marvels of God's creation. Looking at a world, full of opportunities for exploring, which a thousand lifetimes would never be able to exhaust, she beholds a multitude of wonders. For at this stage, though she is only an infant, she has a power that most of us lose quite early on in life. I allude, of course, to the power of sight. She sees (or at least will see) more of the world from her crib every day than most of us see in our widest travels. For most of us see nothing.
That almost all of us are blind, I suppose, is something that goes without saying. For the pedantic out there who insist that, in fact, they see quite well, I should perhaps clarify that I am not referring to physical sight, but rather to a vision of things as they really are. That we are so blinded is evident from the fact that we are so often "bored". For why should we be bored? Why must we have a thousand amusements produced by others in order to keep us entertained? We have, in fact, practically been conditioned by our culture to believe that if we do not have these amusements, we are doomed to be "bored". But it is an illusion. For if we simply could see what is right in front of us, we have enough material to engage us for an entire lifetime. There is nothing that is not a starting point for admiring the mere fact of existence itself. At the least, however, we can always find a source of fascination in whatever materials we encounter every single day, no matter how “simple” they may seem. And this is proven by the fact that little children are able to do so. Give a little child a cardboard box, and see how much enjoyment he can get out of it. Surely if a child can get so much immense pleasure out of cardboard, we should at the least be able to be fascinated with what is right in front of us, no matter what circumstances we may find ourselves in. We have no excuse for boredom. When we are bored, we are experiencing a (hopefully temporary) blindness to the marvels of life. For life is indeed a marvel, even simply on the natural level.
But what is true on the natural level is also true on the supernatural level for any Christian. Just as we have all been born into this natural life with the power of sight, and perhaps have lost it over the years, so we all have a spiritual sight given to us when we are spiritually reborn. We are granted a vision of supernatural realities that are inspiring enough to make whatever tribulations we experience in this life to pale in comparison. We are gifted with the grace to make a journey, the end of which is eternal life with Him who is our Supreme Good, resulting in never ending bliss. (Not without cause is such called “the Beatific Vision”). We have a supernatural family in our fellow Christians, ready to help us along the way, both by their deeds and prayers. Nor are we left alone to attempt to discern God's will in our lives. God has written us a letter in Holy Scripture, and the Holy Spirit, operating through the Church as well as through our own hearts, guides us as well. In addition, the sacraments are given us as channels of God’s grace. Finally, we are able at any time to commune in prayer with the Lord of the entire universe, and "with confidence draw near to the throne of grace" (Heb 4:16). Those are only some of the many gifts we have received.
And yet, how often many of us do not truly see these things, nor contemplate the riches we have been graced with! We acknowledge them as true, and profess our belief in them to others. Indeed, we really do believe in them in our hearts. We have supernatural life within us. But do we have supernatural vision so as to acknowledge the above in our lives, constantly seeing these divine gifts, that is, as everyday realities, and not forgetting them soon afterwards? If we did so, would not our lives be much different than they are now? I speak of myself most of all; I cannot comment as to the state of others. But I know that I do not think of these things nearly as often as I should. They should be something constantly before my eyes. But they are not. Most of the time, I struggle to view these gifts from God and His sheer generosity, distracted as I am by the concerns of this natural life. I have, in fact, to the degree I am so distracted, developed a spiritual sort of blindness, in that I do not see what is really there, resulting in unnecessary difficulties for myself. But just because I do not direct my attention to these supernatural realities, that does not mean that they cease to exist.
A person, when he is bored, does not see what is right in front of him, not to its full extent, and that is (speaking purely on the natural level) a sort of blindness. In order to recover his sight, he must become as a little child again. Then he will have an abundance of gifts, first granted to him simply through the gift of being alive, of having been born to natural life. That is the reward of appreciation. A Christian who does not see all the gifts he has received from God must likewise become as a little child again in order to receive the fullness of his spiritual sight once more, which has become impaired. He must become as he was when first born to supernatural life. Then he, too, will be able to appreciate the abundance of spiritual gifts that he has received, which, in turn, will help him recover his first love (cf. Rev 2:4). And is not that a gift to be desired by all? It leads him more surely to the greatest Gift, God Himself, who is our ultimate Goal. And then we shall truly “see”:
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.” (1 Cor 13:12a)
No comments:
Post a Comment