The New York Times front page recently ran a photo of an extremely emaciated young girl from Yemen. They defended that choice as the duty of journalism to put before the world’s eyes the human tragedy resulting from the conflict there. We sometimes need such visuals to shock us into seeing what is going on around us. Having finally seen what we willfully blinded ourselves to previously, we are called to act.
Today’s readings use blindness as a metaphor to awaken us to the powerful promises of the messianic age. The Messiah who will allow us to “see the work of [God’s] hands in [our] midst” will restore vision out of blindness’ “gloom and darkness.” In the Gospel, it happens through the agency of Jesus. The Messiah has come, the Reign of God is near!
This means partly that when the time is fulfilled, our bodies will be restored to God’s original plan at creation. We were created to have sight. Yet, what we see implicates us. It calls forth a response from us. The good news is that by responding, we become agents of the promised messianic transformation to God’s original creative intention for us all. What’s more, the Messiah has recreated us into the willfully seeing Body of Christ. With the help of Christ, what am I called to open my eyes to this Advent season?