What's in a 'Look'

Seeing is a creative activity. It influences what it sees based on how it sees. This is obvious when we think about life. For example, a parents's gaze into the eye of a child can be life-giving or life-taking. Another example ... if I look on someone as a threat, I will act out of that threat and my actions will influence the situation (i.e. I will create a confrontational relationship with that person). When I look at another I can actually harden their heart by how I look at them. I can alter another's emotions based on how I see them. How I see becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Every time we look at another we help create who they are and are becoming.The God who sees sees in love. His seeing is an act of love. God embraces, affirms, and embraces since God hates nothing that God has created out of love. God sees our True Self in Christ, our possibilities and calls us to live into it.The person who has sinned and can find no escape from a tr0ubled conscience is comforted when someone who loves is able, without the slightest presumption, to shed light on the sinners self-deception, to release and fortify the will, and open up new ways and possibilities. Jesus said, "Go and sin no more." This is possible only because of His loving look. His gaze frees us from our compulsions, defenses, selfishness, and sin. His gaze makes possible the fruit of the Spirit flurishing.By looking at me God enables me to live into what I cannot be on my own. My soul lives on the loving gaze of God. Contemplative prayer opens my soul to the gaze of God who is for me. Contemplative prayer lets me see the gaze of my heavenly Father who looks at me as He looks at the Son. In His loving gaze I am transformed.As I am changed I can be an instrument of change for others. I can see them as God sees them. Can I look at another without letting their mess mess up how I sees them. This is our challenge.