Looking at a buttercup through Easter eyes
Apr 16, 2022
One of the most remarkable people I have met along this journey of life is the late Jesuit Fr. John Haughey. His keen mind was matched by his amusing sense of humor. As senior fellows at Woodstock Theological Center, John and I spent many hours talking about the mystery of matter and the presence of God.
One time, during our conversation, he recounted how he had just finished a retreat; the highlight of the retreat was not interior prayer but staring at a buttercup flower. During his entire retreat, he stayed with this tiny little flower each day, fully present to it, being drawn into the miracle of its delicate life.
I often think of John's experience because he discovered God in the most unexpected place, the fragile, delicate petals of a buttercup flower. God is the ultimate depth of everything that exists, Paul Tillich wrote, but we must learn to see. Jesus repeatedly asked his disciples, What do you see? For the reign of God is here and now. To the unbelievers he lamented, "It is because you say you see that your blindness remains" (John 9:41).
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the famous Jesuit scientist, was also a strong advocate of vision. "To see and to make others see" was the heart of his masterpiece, The Human Phenomenon. "The whole of life lies in that verb," he said.
What kind of seeing is it that reveals not only the surfaces of things, but also their within? Here is the question that distinguishes physical sight from spiritual sight, as Antoine de Saint-Éxupery wrote in The Little Prince: "It is only with the heart that one sees rightly, what is essential is invisible to the physical eye."
Gospel vision calls us to see the incredible: This whole, crazy and chaotic world is God-filled.
Pope’s Easter Message PEACE BE WITH YOU- click link above.