The Gaze of the Holy in Jesus

This week, I have been pondering the recurring gospel theme that describes the Holy alive in the story of Christ Jesus, a theme explicit in Matthew 9:36 when the Christ in Jesus was moved with compassion when seeing the multitudes.Out of this compassion, Jesus spoke prophetically, spoke with an explicit clarity in confronting systemic wrongs while responding to the suffering and pain of the people gathered, suffering both in spirit and in body.   These prophetic words, intent on awakening and not shaming, were prophetic words that unsettled in order to open up pathways of transformation.Dancing alongside my pondering this week are the poetic words of John O'Donohue who, when reflecting on the gaze of the Holy in Christ Jesus, alludes to the crevices where thoughts grow long before the longing in the bone sends them towards the mind's eye,This week marks the end of two six-week discussion groups within First United on the book White Fragility, a book that confronts systemic racism, a book that for me (and the us of those participating) is sending both "blindspots" and longings in the bone to the "mind's eye".  I know that I am seeing differently, and find myself meditating deeply upon what I am learning, especially within the context of happenings in our city and country.   Our faith in the Christ alive in Jesus compels response and, as a community of faith, we will be discerning our collective and ongoing responses to two specific situations.