Our perception changes what we notice and highlights what we must see. I remember how each time I was pregnant, I noticed more pregnant women around me, not just at the obstetrician’s office, but everywhere. Now, with my disability, I notice when others are wearing leg braces or walking with canes. I see them and they see me. It is as if our experiences grant us a special lens to see others going through similar things. Our awareness changes how we understand things.

In today’s First Reading, we find Paul arriving in Rome and being placed under house arrest. He “was allowed to live by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him. Three days later he called together the leaders of the Jews” (Acts 28:16). He was alone, with a guard, for three days. Do you see what I see? Once we are aware of the Paschal Mystery, we see its echoes everywhere.

“[…] It seems to me that our good Master is really making the grain of wheat die [cf. Jn 12,24], and that this grain is sprouting well because it is truly dead to the world. It needed many blows and many little deaths to make it die; now it must grow.” (Saint Peter Julian Eymard, Counsels for Spiritual Life)

Once Paul emerged from his three days of solitude, “with complete assurance
and without hindrance he proclaimed the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 28:31).

As we continue to prepare for Pentecost and pray for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit over ourselves and the whole Church, let us ask God for the Truth that enlightens our minds. Let us ask for eyes that see those suffering around us and hearts that are moved to respond with the love of Christ.

Let us pray:

“O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of Your faithful, grant that by that same Holy Spirit, we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation, through Christ our Lord. Amen.”