Monday, February 1, 2016

2 Corinthians 3:16-18

[W]hen one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

Face-to-face

I don’t remember his name, only his face and simplicity. He was a Discalced Carmelite, a Roman Catholic religious order known for prayer and nurturing the spirituality of others.

At mid-life, I was learning to pray again, finding ways from the long tradition of the church I had not known.

I asked him how he prayed, expecting a method or procedure he learned from the wisdom of his tradition.

“I sit and look at Jesus,” he said, “and he looks back at me.”

That’s it. There was no more explanation, and that’s the essence of prayer.

I look at you, Jesus, and you look back. The Love in your eyes envelops me and evaporates every concern and worry, releasing me to live and love the life you have given me.

And that’s all you ever ask: To be what I am, the soul that blossoms as I sit in your gaze and know you … as you know me.

Face-to-face with you. I glow within and begin to shine with the Love that beholds me.

I pulled my car into a parking lot on Friday to watch the sky, the play of light in infinite colors and beauty played across streaks of cloud as the sun sank and slipped beneath the horizon.

I sat and looked at the sky… and you, and you looked back. We were praying, together, face-to-face.

And you were making me what you are.

Pr. David L. Miller