Spiritual Glasses

The past couple of days I have been focusing on the choice between the world and the Church. For some people, it can be difficult to distinguish between the world and the Church. Temptation is experienced. It is not imagined. What the world uses to tempt us can be so convincing, we are blinded to the truth.

I used to wear glasses when I was in school. It wasn’t until later in life that I realized I didn’t need glasses except to read. I now only wear reading glasses, and the world seems different. I can ‘see’ clearly when I drive, when I walk, when I’m just sitting with friends. Reading requires an intentional act of first finding, and then putting on, my reading glasses.

Then, my eyes are opened to the text, but the world is blurry. I cannot read and talk sit with friends. I must choose one or the other. Some have suggested bifocals for the convenience of not having to put on and remove my reading glasses. I never considered until today the intentional act of having only reading glasses.

We go through life in much the same way. It requires being intentional when we look at the world or when we look at the Church. We cannot focus on both, so we are forced to choose. That means choosing temptation and sin over forgiveness and salvation. The solution is to put spiritual glasses. We call those spiritual glasses the grace of God.

Through God’s grace we can see the world clearly and at the same time see the truth of the Church. Sometimes, though we need help. Today the Church commemorates Saint Paraskevi. She often intercedes for those who have problems with their eyes. According to tradition, while she was being tortured in burning oil, she healed the vision of her torturer. She was released, only to be killed some years later.

So many of us are blinded to the world’s temptations, that we fall to sin without even lifting a finger in our defense. May Saint Paraskevi intercede for us, so that we can see clearly the dangers of the world, and turn to Christ and His Church. Take a moment today and pray to Saint Paraskevi to help you see clearly. Ask her to help you put on your spiritual glasses.