“May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts, that we may know what is the hope that belongs to our call.” Letter to the Ephesians.

We know about the two of them separated by our nose. We also know they age along with our age. (I’m told I’ll need cataract surgery in 2020; the irony seemed to elude my eye doctor.) We put all kinds of things either inside or outside of those two organs to see either the traffic in front of us or the person to the side of us.

I write this now with glasses on the tip of my nose otherwise the words be a blur on my blurry porch along with my two cats. (At least I think my cats are out here now!)

Johnny Nash assured us of clear vision singing that “I can see all obstacles in my way, Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind…” Sounds like a faith statement to me. “I was blind but now I see,” says the slave-porter with a song that even an Alzheimer’s patient can sing.

But can those two – either gray, blue or green – ever truly see behind and beyond the daily news, that person’s convincing but wrong opinion, that car accident that almost makes us cause another. Good vision but poor insight? How often is that the case?

Enter the Biblical, Ephesians passage with a phrase that hit me, the “eye of our heart.” Now we have a third one? We possess a third eye that sees some things better and clearer than the two I scratch every morning?

Just take our “first impression” of someone, their shoes, and hair. The two of ours takes it in and quickly assesses. The third one of our heart may take awhile before a judgment is launched and cemented in our tiny brains. The timing of the heart’s eye is socketed in faith, in experience, in trust, and in patience. What was initially quick to admit or dismiss by our facial two is now cautiously weighed and measured, and always cushioned with a touch of hope and promise by the third.

Our poor hearts. First, they take a beating for beating every moment of every day but now the hearts bear the burden of a third way of viewing and evaluating people and things around us.

I like my two visible green ones although everyone says they’re blue. Perhaps if they looked at me with their “third eye,” they made finally see that mine are green.

Books by Fr. Joe Jagodensky, SDS. All available on Amazon.com

“Soulful Muse,” reflections on the Catholic Church and U.S. culture
“Living Faith’s Mysteries,” reflections on the Christian seasons
of Advent/Christmas & Lent/Easter
“Spiritual Wonderings and Wanderings,”
reflections on the Catholic Church and U.S. culture

Newest books include:
“Letters From My Cats,”
a collection of letters written by my cats over twenty years
“Bowling Through Life’s Stages with a Christian perspective,”
Bowling as a metaphor for religion and growing up