Seeing With the Eyes of the Heart

From Henri Nouwen Society

On the Journey To Seeing With the Eyes of the Heart

written by DAVID HOOVER

Centuries ago, St. Augustine was asked why Christians performed the various spiritual practices of their faith. He responded, "We do these things to restore health to the eye of the heart, whereby God may be seen." Since I read these words many years ago, the image of seeing "with the eye of the heart" has haunted me. As have Jesus' challenging words "You have eyes to see, but do not see." And so for me, the prayer before all prayers has been the prayer of the blind man, "Lord, may I see."

Henri Nouwen points out in The Return of the Prodigal Son that in Rembrandt's picture the father is apparently almost blind. The father "recognizes his son, not with the eyes of the body, but with the inner eye of the heart." With the eye of the heart, the eye of love, the father sees deeply, and is able to recognize and release the son's true identity as his beloved son - an identity hidden beneath the crust of all the son's misguided attempts to find love and life in a "far country."

May we each allow ourselves to be seen as truly beloved in the eyes of God's love. And may we learn to see others with the eye of the heart. Then at last we will be able to live in "the house of love," wherein we can both see God's love and be God's love.

- DAVID HOOVER works for the Center for Spiritual Development in Orange, California. He is a spiritual director and workshop/retreat presenter who has presented workshops on figures in contemporary spirituality including Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and Henri Nouwen.

HenriNouwen.org

Heal Thy Broken Body

Reprinted from Henri Nouwen Society Weekly Reflection -- March 19, 2008

On the Journey To Seeing With the Eyes of the Heart

written by VICTORIA S. SCHMIDT

Let my hands heal thy broken body are words purposely placed near a broken crucifix in the Home for the Dying run by the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India.

The story behind the broken corpus of Jesus is that a mentally ill person, in anger, took the cross from the wall and threw it at Mother Teresa.
In that instant, Mother Teresa picked up the broken Jesus and instructed one of her sisters to place it back on the wall with those words.

It was Mother Teresa who taught me to see with the eyes of my heart twenty- seven years ago, when I went to India to volunteer with her community.
Having been caught up in the busyness of life and building a career, I had paid little attention to the importance of seeing with the eyes of my heart.
I know today that I do not see clearly what is unless I am seeing through the eyes of my heart.
Mother Teresa taught with her own life that Christ dwells in every soul, that God lives within every human person.
In knowing this truth, I must see everything through the lens of my heart.
However, as with many spiritual truths, knowing this does not make it easy, and I struggle to live this truth.

On my journey towards seeing with the eyes of my heart, my prayer is to have the wisdom to know when I'm looking through the wrong lens and when I am indeed letting the eyes of my heart allow my hands to heal the broken world.

- VICTORIA S. SCHMIDT lives in Springfield, Illinois (USA). She has a missionary heart that has been formed by thirty years of missionary work around the world. She currently serves as Director of Theresian World Ministry, an international Catholic women's organization.