Devotional Thought of The Day:

33 “No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a bowl;p instead, he puts it on the lamp-stand, so that people may see the light as they come in. 34Your eyes are like a lamp for the body. When your eyes are sound, your whole body is full of light; but when your eyes are no good, your whole body will be in darkness. 35Make certain, then, that the light in you is not darkness. 36If your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be bright all over, as when a lamp shines on you with its brightness.”  Luke 11:33-36  TEV

Constantine the Great, having written with great respect to St. Anthony, the religious about him were greatly astonished. “Why,” said he, “do you feel astonished that a king should write to a man? Be astonished, rather, that the Eternal God should have written down his law to mortal men; yea, more, should have spoken to them by word of mouth in the person of his Son.”  (1)

God does not want
a house built by people,
but faithfulness to his word
and acceptance of his design.
It is God himself
who builds the house
but of living stones
marked by his Spirit.

It is a blessing for parents of toddlers, this truth that out of sight, out of mind.  

Yet it is true for us as adults as well, and then can become a curse if we aren’t careful.  For the longer our eyes are taken off of something, the easier it is for us to forget and even neglect that which was once all important. 

Like God.

We can forget Him, if not completely, then enough to obscure who He is, what He has instilled in us.

His peace, His comfort, His mercy, His love.

And what it means to live life in reflection of that love.  What Pope Francis calls “His design”, what He wills, the plans He has laid out for us. The more we neglect seeing Chirst in our lives, the more sin reigns, the more it makes sense, the more it offers false comfort, quickly fading imitations of joy, and quickly tires us out. A lack of seeing Christ leasd us to a life we cannot be satisfied with, on that quickly turns toxic, as we do what is right in our own eyes. 

We need to regain this vision of Christ, we need to let His light enter through our eyes, to contemplate, to think about, to become enlightened to the depth of His love for us, His people, His family.  We need to realize that not only did God love us enough to guide our lives with His law. but that He revealed us the love in and through Jesus.  

He is our light, He is our life, and our thoughts need to be infused by the presence of our God.  Not as in a rote behavior, or religious obligation, but as our very life.  With the joy that comes from walking with One whose love for you is proven over and over. 

So fill your eyes with Him! Fill your mind with those things that we praise Him for, things that are true, noble, holy, just, pure, lovely, sacrificial, (see Phil.4:8)   

He is with you!

AMEN!

Pope Francis. A Year with Pope Francis: Daily Reflections from His Writings. Ed. Alberto Rossa. New York; Mahwah, NJ; Toronto, ON: Paulist Press; Novalis, 2013. Print.

(1)  Francis de Sales, Saint. An Introduction to the Devout Life. Dublin: M. H. Gill and Son, 1885. Print.