The Loving Gaze of Jesus

From the pages of the Lenten Magnificat...


Saturday, February 28th:


The Gospel account of the call of Saint Matthew is brief and yet profound in its implications. "Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, 'Follow me.'" Jesus finds Matthew (Levi) immersed in his sinful occupation, absorbed by the obsession that binds him to worldly concerns and obstructs the light of God from his life. Matthew has allowed himself to be defined by the exercise of power and the lust for material gain. His own identity is obscured, and his dignity shrouded. And those who judge persons solely by the standards of the present age - the Pharisees and their scribes - are unable to recognize that "tax collectors and sinners" are human persons made for God and capable of repentance and redemption by the power of God. How does Jesus engage this situation? First of all, he "sees" Matthew. What must have been contained in this transcendent, compassionate gaze that penetrated the darkness of Matthew's life! Here was the empowering and forgiving love of God, taking in all the misery and reawakening all the possibility of Matthew's life. And the gaze of God radiated from human eyes, the eyes of Jesus of Nazareth, the God who came among us - "I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners."


Reflection based on Luke 5:27-32
John Janaro


Dear Jesus, grant us the grace to experience the compassion with which you look upon us, that we might hear your call and follow your will.


Today's suggested penance: Visit and elderly person.