“‘All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.’ Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.’” (Lk 10: 22-24)
In this season of Halloween-decorations, when we surround ourselves with the “scary” and the ugly, like images and stories of witches, skeletons, vampires, and other “bad guys,” I’m grateful to be reminded in the Gospel-reading for this Monday that our eyes (and ears) are also “blessed” with the beautiful things we are given to see and hear, as the result of the coming to us in the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I don’t mean to be a stick in the mud, regarding Halloween. I’m just thinking that on a daily basis, even aside from Halloween-related culture, we take in a lot of darkness through our eyes and ears, e.g., through the various disturbing stories of our 24/7 news cycle. And all of it can become a lot to carry around. So, I’m grateful to be reminded that I am also given both to see and hear the Good News, and to be blessed by it. Let me not neglect, this morning, to look toward my holy icons; to re-connect in prayer with the invisible good guys in our midst, the holy angels and all the communion of the saints; and to allow myself to be blessed, that I may also pass on blessing. “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see.” Happy Monday!
