We heard the simple truth this morning: “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be sound, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee is darkness, how great is the darkness? [Mt. 6:22-23]
Saint John Chrysostom wrote: “The eye is, to be sure, a small organ in size, but it is more important than all the rest of the body. […] Actually, of course, everything in us is a proof of the wisdom of God, but the eye is so more than any other organ. In truth, it governs the entire body; it adorns the countenance; it is a lamp for all the members. What the sun does in the world, this the eye does in the body. If you should extinguish the sun, you would destroy everything and create chaos; if you should extinguish the light of the eyes, the feet would also be useless, and the hands, and even life. Now, if the eyes have been disabled, wisdom also departs, because by them we know God. […] Surely, then, the eye is the light not merely of the body, but also of the soul more than of the body.” [Saint John Chrysostom, Commentary on Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist, Homilies 48-88, transl. Sister Thomas Aquinas Goggin (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2000), 90–91.
The words of the saint Cause me to ask myself, how do I spend my “Eye-Opening” moments? I can choose
to be distracted, or zeroed in on my Father’s business like a hawk carefully choosing its prey. Distractions lead to stumbles and sometimes injuring or darkening our nous. We all fall into distractions at home, at work, at prayer and even here at church, now not the distractions of God’s little creatures, because we certainly won’t be alone in heaven, but allowing ourselves to lose sight of the goal of salvation. And the love we have for others is supposed to be sacrificial. St. John of Damascus reminds us: “The passions of the soul are forgetfulness, laziness and ignorance. When the souls’ eye, the [nous], has been darkened by these three, the soul is dominated by all the other passions.” [St. John of Damascus (Philokalia, Vol. 2, p. 335)]
Hopefully at some point in our lives we finally realize that our human life has a limit and there is something so much greater awaiting us after our heart stops pumping, if we have had our eyes opened and have been working diligently on our salivation, less of me, more of Him! As we begin our accent with study, prayer, attendance and most importantly the sacraments of His Church, darkness is slowly lifted and exposed. St. Theognostos of Alexandria wrote: The [nous] is then like a sheep-dog that keeps watch against the cunning wolves, not letting them ravage the flock.” [St. Theognostos (Philokalia, Vol. 2, p. 374)]
The Prophet Isaiah tells us of his cleansing vision: “In the year that King Uzziah died,” (who was a very sinful King, started out walking with God. Yet, he slowly drifted from God and then rebelled against God’s law. For Uzziah, pride eventually led to his downfall.) “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.” (Isaiah 6:1-7)
Just as the Body and Blood of our risen Lord touch our unclean lips and cleanse our defilement, so we can too with the Light of God being so ever engaged when our eyes that are open and always hungry for His stimulation, and not the filth of darkness. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5.8).
Fr. Gabriel Weller 6-29-2025
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