How do we see with 20/20 vision

We are on the alert for dangers that may present themselves in our daily lives. Every day there is something new that we are called to focus our attention upon. Amid the things that can distract us from being authentic to our own calling how do we live amid a world of contradictions? This can become a pressing issue when we feel exposed to the temptations that confront us each day: to be powerful; to be spectacular and to be relevant. They can be like those that faced Jeremiah when his friends watch out for any mistake he may make. Jeremiah has the desire to meet God who probes the depths of his life. This is not just about having the right answers but the willingness to ask the right questions. Jeremiah wants to know how a God of justice will deliver the souls of the needy from evil men.

The theme of being a light on the hill seeks to uncover not our wrongdoing but the reality of God’s glory. The desire of God is not for us to be lost in darkness but to be drawn into the light of the day. Jesus encourages his disciples not just to focus on the material realities of life that if taken from us can feel like death. He looks at a more fundamental loss of losing our sight of God who walks with us in those losses. So often when evil befalls us, we can start to doubt our own worth and yet Jesus proclaims that we are worth more than thousands of sparrows. He allows us to invite God close and to declare God’s presence even in our darkest night.

So how do we acknowledge our need of God even in this darkest night. Paul grapples with the reality of the sin of Adam and how there was something deeper than just breaking the law but the breaking of a relationship with God. We can recognise the reality of the sin can cause a people to separate themselves from a God who seeks them out. This is why it is important to confess mortal sins not to draw attention to the sinful act but to address the injury caused by the act. This can be like a mortal blow that threatens death to the soul.

This is not easy to confess because in many ways the evil spirit seeks to play a three-card trick: to tempt us into wrongdoing, then to keep it secret and then pretend that he is more powerful than God in keeping us hostage to the effects of the sin.  This is acknowledged in the rules of St Ignatius in the first week of the spiritual exercises where he recognised the goodness of God and the reality of the effects of sin. St Ignatius helps to understand the internal movements of consolation and desolation that seek us to encounter God rather than leaving us isolated from the grace that we need to overcome sin. This is not to remove us from the world but so that in the world we seek to be people who can heal the wounds of sin and division.

Thus, we seek to draw confidence that allows us to adjust our vision to see God more clearly. The focus here is not on our sins but on the person of Jesus who seeks to meet us. It is this encounter that transforms us that brings life into focus so that we can see with 20/20 vision.