I think we have all heard the expression that 'the eyes are the windows to the soul'. One of the great saints of the Church once said that 'the eyes of a baby are the windows to heaven'. There is something fascinating about the human eyes, as if they reveal what is in the heart so much that in English there is a saying, 'eyes never lie'. I don't know if you've noticed that today the psalm speaks a lot about the eyes: 'To you I lift up my eyes, you who dwell in the heavens. Behold,... like the eyes of servants looking to the hand of their master; so our eyes look to the Lord, our God,...' and we responded: 'Our eyes look to the Lord, until he has mercy upon us.'
In the past, unfortunately, God was often presented to us as one who sees everything, and thus always ready to punish us if we do not obey; this is not the image of God that Jesus, the only Son of the Father, who knows the heart of God like no one else, gives us. Jesus presents God to us as a Father who loves us, who like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, always waits for his son who has strayed and hopes that he returns to his embrace. God's eyes are on us like the eyes of a mother and a father who care for and love their children, and therefore they always keep them under their watchful eyes as we say. But the psalm speaks more about our eyes as they look towards God: the one who looks with trust towards God who dwells in the heavens, and the servant who looks with her eyes towards the hand of her mistress because she is waiting for mercy from her, perhaps because she has erred. The eyes that look to the earth are humble eyes asking for something they know they have no right to, but they are asking for mercy.
The first reading tells us about Ezekiel who hears God calling him to go and deliver His Word to a stubborn people, not only a sinful people but a people obstinate in their sin. Despite this, God wants to send them the message that He has not abandoned them; in fact, in their midst is the prophet who delivers His Word, a Word that admonishes and warns, a Word that saves. Our God is not there to punish us when we sin, but even if we are stubborn in our sin, He continues to love us and hopes that we recognise our error and return to the right path.
The people who knew Jesus from his childhood found it difficult to accept His Word, even though they felt it was a powerful Word full of heavenly wisdom; this was simply because he was the carpenter, and they knew his family, and for them, they were nobody special. This led them to reject the Sent One of God simply because, according to them, they knew him too well: 'he was amazed at their lack of faith.' Could it be that we, who are very familiar with the Church, sometimes do the same? Could it be that we always have the things of God on our lips but far from our hearts? Would Jesus, who knows our hearts, find in us true Faith or not?
In today's second reading, Saint Paul, inspired by God, comes to boast in his weakness, and this is because it keeps him humble: God, through the desire that pricked and weighed him down, was freeing him from the greatest enemy which is pride. The proud never accept God because they make themselves gods.
We ask you Lord, fill us with your grace, give us the courage and faith to keep looking up to you, because we truly recognise our nothingness and your greatness and, at the same time, your love for us who are weak and sinful. We ask you to free us from stubbornness and a closed heart, free us from pride, our greatest enemy, so that in our hearts we may have only You, You who delight in the eyes of the humble. Amen.
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