Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Look and see
Woe to you Pharisees!
You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb,
But you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God.
Across Lincoln Avenue someone has left a blue and black rental scooter parked in front of a beautiful collection of flowering trees, annual and perennial flowers, a totem pole and sign that says, “Urbana Park District, KING PARK”. I’ve looked at that sign for 30 years, but it took an abandoned scooter to make me see its beauty. A girl with long black hair walks by, walking her white dog. The dog seems to be walking her. She’s nearly running.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord:
I know them, and they follow me.
During a lifetime of photographing people and places, I notice how my picture is transformed when it’s framed in a viewfinder. What a great name, view finder! Look, and then when I look again in a way framed by God’s perspective, I can see. Not just for cameras, nor for the chimeras that appear in my imagination, this idea. Look … and see.
Here’s a good example from Romans 2, one of my favorites. Freud called this “projection”: when what I think I see in you is actually something I need to see in myself:
You, O man, are without excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else. For at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment, do the very same things!
I think it takes a confessional mindset to even begin to be aware of this before the sin. I think it was John Piper who invited me to be the “best human I can be,” which starts with recognizing my limitations. I can accuse Augustine of cramping my style with his invocation against “vicious curiosity,” but he also said “Love God and then do what you want.” Luther followed him with his “Sin boldly.”
All of this leads me to understand how limited I am in living out this “example” of seeing. Still, to know what Paul says about God’s intention for us is the start of it. Naming this “projective” tendency, even when I don’t catch it beforehand, I can notice it after, and make the confession inwardly and to the other person.
Clarence Heller found himself on the edges of his perceived universe recently, and poetically acknowledged his own limits. His “looking” around at the world became transformed into “sight.” And I’m glad to tag along, and invite you to … too.
Small
I want to feel small,
smaller than I have ever felt,
smaller that I can imagine feeling.
I want to experience felt knowledge
that in the multitudes of specks of light in the night sky,
each tiny speck,
not just represents another sun,
but in reality is another sun,
often larger than the one I know.
I want a felt sense of those suns and planets
so far away as to not be visible,
and a felt sense of how far away that really is,
and then I want to feel that that most remote solar system
is not the edge of existence,
but rather closer to the center of it.
I want to feel the presence of the other life forms
in the unimaginable vastness,
to see their faces,
to feel the life force flow through them
and to know deeper than words that this life force
is the same in me.
I want to know you better God
in your immensity and benevolence,
but my very limited mind just can’t grasp this,
not even the beginning of grasping,
so I ask that you teach my heart
to know what is beyond comprehension,
that I am so, so tiny,
yet so, so precious to you.
On his website, “A Piece of Goodness,” Clarence tagged this poem with the category, “love.” I want to love as well as I can as a human, knowing how falling short is certain, but even so that this is how I am meant to live.
Do you hold his priceless kindness, forbearance, and patience
in low esteem, unaware that the kindness of God
will lead you to repentance, and
eternal life to those who seek glory, honor, and immortality
through perseverance in good works?
(Romans 2, Psalm 62, John 10, Luke 11)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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