“Behold.”  The word says what it saw.  Underused but a descriptive word.  The curtain’s been lifted.  There are no strings attached and there is no agenda. Just that one, spoken word that startles you from whatever you were thinking or doing,

“Behold.” The word not only tells you to look but to do it in a new and different way. To look in a startling way. It’s the word in the Catholic Mass that replaced the word (ready for this!) “This.” Doesn’t that sounds like a good change from this unchanging Church? Which word captures and holds your breath, even for a moment – “Behold” or “This”?

A waiter says, “This” is a your bill.” Now that usage makes sense. A waiter doesn’t deliver the bill to you saying, “Behold!” unless you’re paying for a party of ten.
“Behold, the Lamb of God…” says the priest at Mass. An angel appears in your living room and first says, “Behold!” If I was one of those biblical characters, I’d say, “You can cut the ‘behold’ part – just seeing you got my attention. Typing this I use an exclamation point after that word. That’s redundant.

When the Body of Christ is raised before receiving it, what other word could possibly describe and what other word rightly describes what is shown before you except…you got it, “Behold.”

“Behold,”
• the wafer that you’ve eaten countless times is new this day because this is a new day
• a degree of alertness is called for because something extraordinary is happening before your very eyes
• in Western movies, they say “beholding” because now there’s a bond, partnership between the giver and the receiver

“Behold.”  If only we could use that word in the presence of another person.  Meeting a good friend at the airport and say, “Behold, it’s wonderful to see you again.” Someone is near death and she says to you, “Behold, a new life lies before me.” A youngster earns a gold star on her oddly-shaped elephant drawing and you say, “Behold, this earns the refrigerator door!” Pilate, even unknowingly, uses the word to present the savior of the world.

What can we “beheld” in this time and place. “Behold! It’s 5:00 on Friday!” What can still capture and amaze you about your life, your faith? Are you open to insights to behold and ponder?

Let’s begin each day, or at least after a couple cups of coffee with “Behold.” “Behold” what lies before us in both challenges and successes, those who stand along side of us and what we allow to live within us. Because the word “behold” can only be from God.