Devotions based on Juliet Benner’s Book, Contemplative Vision

In our every day life we miss God because He may not appear in ways we expect. As long as we have fixed ideas of how and where God should be for us, He will remain hidden and seem silent to us. God desires to be known and to touch us if we would be attentive to Him. In John’s day people needed to have their vision changed in order to see their Messiah in different ways than they had expected. They expected a Messiah that would come in power and might to deliver them from their oppressors. Yet John told them this humble man in ordinary clothing was their Deliverer.  Thy needed a new way of seeing and their eyes required a radical transformation in order to recognize Him. So it is with us as we need to be attentive enough to recognize and respond to God who is among us. It took some time for the disciples who met Jesus on the Emmaus Road to recognize Jesus, and then He vanished. Juliet shares her thoughts of Caravaggio’s painting of Jesus at table with these two friends, in such an ordinary circumstance of life. There is an empty place at the table that is wide enough for us to join in this meal.  Jesus has his hand outstretched and is extending us an invitation too. Yet sometimes we are reluctant to draw near to Him. What barriers to do we have that keep us from responding? Let us pray that our eyes would be open and our vision transformed so we can see Him in all the ways that He comes to us. When  we are attuned with eyes and hearts to see the unseen spiritual realities which surround us, then we will be able to recognize the sacred in our midst.