We all experience spiritual blindness.  We need the Lord to give us sight and to bring light to our darkness (2 Samuel 22:29).  Jesus came into the world as light, to prevent anyone who believes in him from staying in darkness (John 12:46).  Conversion is a lifelong process, and the enlightening of our spiritual eyes occurs over time.  In the Gospel of Mark, we read that after Jesus laid hands on a blind man once, the man was “beginning to see,” and said, “‘I can see people; they look like trees as they walk around.’  Then Jesus laid his hands on the man’s eyes again and he saw clearly; he was cured, and he could see everything plainly and distinctly” (Mark 8:23-25).  

In humility, we should acknowledge our blindness.  Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty, but since you say, ‘We can see,’ your guilt remains” (John 9:41).  We should also express our desire to see Jesus (John 12:21), to “see God’s light with [our] own eyes” (Tobit 3:17).  In Psalm 42:1-2, the Psalmist says, “As a deer yearns for running streams, so I yearn for you, my God.  I thirst for God, the living God; when shall I go to see the face of God?”  Like blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46-52, we should ask the Lord to let us see. 

To see the Lord, the Scriptures call us to uprightness, honesty, holiness, purity of heart, and love.  The Psalmist says in Psalm 17:15, “I in my uprightness will see your face, and when I awake, I shall be filled with the vision of you,” and in Psalm 11:7, “for the Lord is upright and loves uprightness, the honest will ever see his face.”  Likewise, Hebrews 12:14 instructs us to “seek peace with all people, and the holiness without which no one can ever see the Lord.”  In the Gospels, Jesus says, “blessed are the pure in heart: they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).  If we love one another, we will remain in the light, but “whoever hates his brother is in darkness and is walking about in darkness not knowing where he is going, because darkness has blinded him” (1 John 2:10-11).

The Holy Spirit will guide us to see the Lord and his love more clearly, but we must be attentive to the prompting of the Spirit.  In the Gospel of Luke, we read the example of Simeon who obeyed the prompting of the Spirit and saw Jesus.  “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord.  Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said: Now, Master, you are letting your servant go in peace as you promised; for my eyes have seen the salvation which you have made ready in the sight of the nations; a light of revelation for the gentiles and glory for your people Israel” (Luke 2:26-32).

We must persevere on this journey towards truly seeing Jesus.  The Lord will reward our perseverance.  Luke 19:3-6 provides the example of Zacchaeus, who “kept trying to see which Jesus was,” but he was too short to see him amidst the crowd, “so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus who was to pass that way.  When Jesus reached the spot he looked up and spoke to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down.  Hurry, because I am to stay at your house today.’  And he hurried down and welcomed him joyfully.”  

Even when the journey requires sacrifice or suffering, keep going.  Reach out to a brother or sister in Christ and ask for prayer.  There may be times when we find ourselves in darkness, when it is difficult to see Jesus, but he promises that a short time later, we will see him again (John 16:16).  The Lord “is waiting to be gracious to you, the Exalted One, to take pity on you, for the Lord is a God of fair judgement; blessed are all who hope in him.  Yes, people of Zion living in Jerusalem, you will weep no more.  He will be gracious to you when your cry for help rings out; as soon as he hears it, he will answer you.  When the Lord has given you the bread of suffering and the water of distress, he who is your teacher will hide no longer, and you will see your teacher with your own eyes.  Your ears will hear these words behind you, ‘This is the way, keep to it,’ whether you turn to right or left” (Isaiah 30:18-21).

When we see the Lord, our lives will change as we receive this tremendous blessing.  “Blessed are your eyes because they see” (Matthew 13:16).  When we see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8), we should become more confident in prayer.  For instance, in the Gospel of Luke, a man with a skin disease saw Jesus, fell on his face, and said, “Sir, if you are willing you can cleanse me” (Luke 5:12), and in the Gospel of Mark, the synagogue official, Jairus, saw Jesus, “fell at his feet and begged him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is desperately sick.  Do come and lay your hands on her that she may be saved and may live’” (Mark 5:22-23). 

We should also become more joyful.  In John 16:22, Jesus said, “I shall see you again, and your hearts will be full of joy, and that joy no one shall take from you.”  Indeed, when Jesus showed them his hands and his side, “the disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord” (John 20:20; see also Luke 24:40-41).  As Tobit 13:16 says, “what bliss, if one of my family be left to see your glory!”  

Once we see Jesus, we should desire to share him with others.  After seeing Jesus, “the first thing Andrew did was to find his brother and say to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’—which means the Christ—and he took Simon to Jesus” (John 1:41-42).  Likewise, after encountering Jesus, the Samaritan woman hurried back to town, saying “‘Come and see a man who has told me everything I have done; could this be the Christ?’  This brought people out of the town and they made their way towards him” (John 4:29-30).

Most importantly, Jesus promises that “it is my Father’s will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and that I should raise that person up on the last day” (John 6:40).  Let us pray for the grace to see Jesus and his love more clearly every day.  Like St. Mary Magdalene, whose feast we recently celebrated, may we each be able to say, “I have seen the Lord” (John 20:18)!