"Remember the marvels the Lord has done.”

Psalm 105:5

I connect with this refrain of a song: “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you, I want to see you.” I want to know the Lord is alive and moving me toward goodness and fullness of life. I want to see him healing, saving, forgiving, redeeming, and perfecting everyone of his beloved, everyday, all the time. And I know that this “seeing” is beyond a physical seeing. It is a “seeing” of the heart that comes through the gift of faith. We know that “every good and perfect gift is from above.” Knowing that any good we experience comes from the Lord, we want to see that with the eyes of our heart and let the celebration of his goodness to us keep increasing. So, I have a question. Do you celebrate life more and more as you age? Are you more locked in now then ever on the goodness that the Lord is pouring out on you and this world?

The night before Jesus died he gathered at meal with his disciples and instituted the Eucharist. He took bread and wine and told them to eat and drink it for it was his body and blood. His body and blood would be poured out on the cross to save the disciples and save us all. Jesus, in his body and blood, was life for them and life for the whole world. Jesus wants us to know that he is our salvation and life for the world so he invites us to receive his body and blood into our body and blood. He asks us to remember him as the source of our life and salvation by gathering with the community and celebrating the Eucharist. In the Eucharist we remember all the marvels Jesus has done and the greatest marvel of all- him dying for us that we might have eternal life. Every marvel we see in life flows from the marvel of the cross!

I marvel (I know, another pun) at how the Holy Spirit helps us to see with the eyes of the heart. The Holy Spirit helps us to see the goodness that God is pouring out on the whole of our lives. If we think about the fact that God is omni-present, omni-powerful and omni-good, then his goodness and marvels should be seen throughout our days.

What blocks our seeing of the continual marvels the Lord sets before us? There are many reasons for the blockage including how suffering and the destruction of life and relationships get the headlines which can drown out the good. In the midst of all possible factors that prevent us from seeing, Jesus gives us wisdom at the Last Supper to help us see with the eyes of the heart. He asks us to remember him in his body and blood. We are to remember that he, and he alone, is our salvation and life for the whole world.

We forget to remember. It is in the remembering and asking the Holy Spirit to show us the goodness and grace and marvels in our lives that we see with the eyes of the heart. Practice remembering. In sacred silence, write down all the ways you have seen the Lord’s hand at work each day. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what you cannot see on your own power. See as the Holy Spirit sees. Believe that the marvels of the Lord are eternally flowing to us. Remember to remember that the marvels you can see are endless.

Let us pray: “Lord, so many times I forget to remember. I forget to remember that you are pouring out your goodness and grace in all times and in all places. Open the eyes of my heart that I may see you. Dazzle me! Marvel me! As I remember and see your amazing grace in my life, help me to be caught up in your goodness this day and forever. Caught up in your amazing grace, along with all I meet, may our earthly journey be like flying to heaven. Amen.”

God’s will!
+Fr. John