by Joan Mitchell, CSJ
Seeing is first of all physiological, a capacity of our bodies. Our eyes feed our brains much of what we know and notice—blue sky at morning, mackerel clouds that warn of storms, our own faces in puddles and mirrors, sadness clouding someone’s face, joy lighting it up.
Insight sees beyond appearances, makes connections, and becomes conscious, spiritual activity. The conscious eye sees beyond skin color or façade. Creation becomes transparent and sacramental. We see God’s presence in Earth and its life. We see the whole in every part. In the vast web of life in which we live, move, and have our being, we read the first book of God’s revelation.
According to the bible, awe and wonder are the beginning of wisdom. We experience awe in the birth of a child, the marriage of two people in love, the vastness of the sea, or the beauty of a prairie in bloom. These experiences of awe hint of God and the sacredness of the world in which we live. Daily we integrate what we see into the ongoing meaning and purpose of our lives.
At age four St. Kateri Tekakwitha lost her Christian Algonquin mother and Mohawk father to smallpox, which also weakened her sight. Her uncle, a Mohawk chief, took her into his longhouse and called her Tekakwitha, One Who Walks Groping Her Way.
Perhaps her mother infected Tekakwitha with a desire to become a Christian, but not until the Jesuits that followed the fur traders into upstate New York established a permanent mission in her village did she have a chance. Father Lamberville found her a natural Christian, instructed her, baptized her at Christmas in 1679, and gave her the name Kateri (Katherine).
Like Bartimaeus in Sunday’s gospel, Kateri sees with insight. Learning about Jesus’ suffering for others made sense of her life of hardship and poor health. She spent Sundays at Mass and in prayer. She brought her Mohawk endurance and composure to spending long hours in prayer.
Kateri met Ursuline sisters in Montreal on her 200-mile trek to live in a Christian village. They awakened in her a desire for a life of prayer and virginity. She received first communion on Easter at the new village and made a vow of perpetual virginity the next year, 1679. Many Mohawk people became Christians after her death at 24.
- In what are you groping your way, looking for insight?