The Apple of God's Eye

3/7/2024

A Reflection on the Psalm for Sunday, July 7th, 2024:
Fifteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time

Psalm 123

R. Our eyes look to the Lord, until he has mercy upon us.

To you I lift up my eyes — O you who are enthroned in the heavens — as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master.

R. Our eyes look to the Lord, until he has mercy upon us.

As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he has mercy upon us.

R. Our eyes look to the Lord, until he has mercy upon us.

Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy, for we have had more than enough of contempt. Our soul has had more than its fill of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.

R. Our eyes look to the Lord, until he has mercy upon us.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

A few weeks ago, I went for an eye checkup – a remarkably thorough examination of my eyes. It made me realize just how delicate yet resilient are these two, tiny parts of my body.

Our eyes are windows to the outside world. Through our eyes, we glimpse the beauty this world possesses, and our eyes tear up when we get emotional, be it sad or happy! In a weird way, our eyes are also a window to our souls. Our thoughts and emotions may be evident with the expression in our eyes. When we unknowingly hurt someone, that hurt is visible in their eyes. When we delight in someone, our eyes light up when we see them and are with them.

The eyes of our soul may not be tangible like the eyes on our faces, but through the eyes of our soul we can fix our gaze upon the Lord. This God loves us and has His eyes fixed on us. We are the apple of His eye, and He delights in us.

The refrain of Psalm 123 says, “Our eyes look to the Lord, until He has mercy upon us.” It is key to understand that on this journey of faith, the initiative to turn our gaze to the Lord leads to Him having mercy upon us. I don’t know about you, but I’ve broken God’s heart many times by the sin that I have chosen. And what does He do in turn? He forgives me when I truly repent and fix my gaze upon Him.

The mighty Lord who has created one of the most intricate organs, the human eye, needs me to come back to Him with all my heart. With the same precision He uses to create, He forgives. He forgives me precisely because I am sorry for the pain that I have caused Him. I matter to the Creator of the Universe. My sin bothers Him, and He is willing to love me and forgive me for the wrong I’ve done to Him when I’ve hurt others or myself.

Just like the servants or the maid in the Psalm, my eyes need to be fixed on my Lord and master. My Lord is a merciful Lord who looks upon me with mercy. Let me always remember that I am the apple of the eye of the great I Am.

Heavenly Father, help me to trust in Your vision for my life. Help me to not lose sight of You and to always keep my eyes fixed on You. I ask all of this in Your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Rebecca Dmello

7 Comments

Lori

3/7/2024 08:48:02 am

Ah, Rebecca—that line, “with the same precision He uses to create, He forgives.” It really got me. When I think of the detail I can take in, even with my old and failing eyes, it moves me to consider the perfection of His sight. He sees perfectly, and still, forgives completely. ♥️

Rebecca D'Mello

3/7/2024 11:20:11 am

True, Lori. His perfect sight sees our imperfections and loves us not despite, but because of them. We are truly blessed! :)

Noreen

6/7/2024 08:44:36 am

When I got to this — “with the same precision He uses to create, He forgives.” — I had to stop reading, and copy it into my journal. I have often thought of the breadth and the depth of God’s forgiveness. The sheer wide vast of His forgiveness. Here Rebecca’s thought has floored me with a detailed precision of God forgiveness. It’s like being awestruck at the image from a powerful telescope, seeing a distant galaxy, and then being overwhelmed by the complex image of a cell in powerful microscope.

Lisa M

5/7/2024 06:40:03 am

It is still mind-blowing that “I matter to the Creator of the Universe.” When my tendency towards shame has me looking down, God calls me to look up, to gaze at His loving face as He generously pours out His mercy. Beautiful reflection Rebecca!

5/7/2024 02:27:47 pm

Lisa, it is so mind boggling that we matter to Him. Each of our silly problems as well as life decisions concern him. His mercy is abounding. How blessed we are! :)

Christine McGuire

5/7/2024 10:52:02 am

After my cataract surgery, I am seeing everything so clearly and more defined after quite a few years of living in a foggy mist - it is amazing. I am so very grateful to our Lord who has allowed the human mind to develop this technique.
I am also thankful that God has his eye on me, and my daily prayer is that I will keep my eyes, heart, and mind looking towards Him. He is the Way and will never lead us astray.

5/7/2024 02:29:56 pm

Indeed, Christine! He is the Way, who makes clear the way for us to follow. All we need to do is keep turning to Him for guidance. Oh! How blessed we are :)