Think of how many times you expressed the desire to meet someone. As we look back over this past year, we realize how the pandemic has altered our way of life. There are people we would like to see again. Grandparents, siblings, friends, and associates have all been separated out of love and the deep desire to keep one another safe. Nonetheless, we deeply desire to see and embrace one another soon.  

 

Think of all the places you wanted to go but sheltered at home for the sake of contributing to the common good. Think of all the people you would like to meet if only you could travel across the country or around the World. Imagine who you would meet and who you would like to see.

 

Human persons are social by nature. Even the monk in the monastery or the hermit in the desert feels a bond with others as they pray and long for the well-being of everyone. 

 

Children are the very definition of what is means to reach out and make friends. Teenagers begin to leave the security of home as they learn and discover what it is to love another person outside the family structure. Everything about us seeks the company, friendship, and love of another.   

 

When our desire to reach out to others is compromised for whatever reason, we feel a sense of loss, estrangement, if not isolation and alienation. Some people become physically ill and emotional distraught when circumstances prevent them from associating with others. We worry terribly when we cannot see and touch loved ones and friends.

 

If this past year has taught us anything, it has taught us how much we need one another.

 

John 12:21 is a remarkable verse. Some people from afar want to “see” Jesus. The Gospel narrative is typically convoluted indicating the great significance of the event. Jesus interprets the desire of the strangers to meet him as a crucial turning point in his life. The Gospel implies that the message of Jesus is moving beyond the boundaries of Nation and home. We know what it’s like to want to see someone. Apart from the profound theological implications, the text points to the deepest desire of any human person. We long to see and understand the World. We long to see the beauty of another and the depth of ourselves. We long to see beyond the limits of life into the eyes of the mystery of it all. Or, as one grandma put it, I want to see my grandchildren.

 

If all continues to go well, the pandemic will fade in the months to come. We need to be safe, sensitive, patient, and supportive of one another. The next few weeks of waiting can seem longer than the past year of anguish.

 

Make a list, if you don’t already have one, of all those you would like to see again. Hold them in your heart if you cannot as yet hold them in your arms. 

 

Blessings to you Holy Community for seeing the beauty and sacredness of one another. Bless everyone with the power of your ability to see not only with the gaze of your eye but love of your heart.