It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” These words from Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s classic work, “The Little Prince,” will probably make it to the top 100 quotes from literature.

Its enduring resonance comes from the simplicity that hits a core and universal longing of the human heart and soul. To see and to see rightly, to see what is essential in life, is a universal longing that cuts across race, class, gender, generations, ideologies and all that divide us.

This I offer for our reflections this Sunday with the beautiful readings on the story of David being chosen as God’s anointed king from the First Book of Samuel; the powerful declaration and exhortation of Paul in his letter to the Ephesians; and the dramatic story of the tension between Christ’s compassionate care and the Pharisees’ distorted dogmatism.

“But the Lord said to Samuel: ‘Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature… Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.”” (1 Samuel 16: 7)

“The Lord looks into the heart.” This is the first point for reflection; how much have we looked into the heart to see rightly and see what is essential? Let me invite you to use this to reflect on stereotyping.

Operating system

I think there is, in varying degrees, a bent for stereotyping in each one of us. We are all products of our past and our journey, which loads us with frameworks, values, biases, etc.—an operating system in computer language. Perhaps ridding ourselves of these is unrealistic, but gaining more and more freedom from them, through greater self-awareness, acceptance and choice, is the goal.

Recently, I was part of a design team in a company doing a major “upgrade” of its values, mission and vision given the changing context of their work and industry. One of the crucial points discussed is solidarity—solidarity with the people they are committed to serve, the people Pope Francis refers to as those in the peripheries.

In one of our meetings, I shared the example of solidarity, but not your typical renunciation of wealth and living with the poor in the tradition of St. Francis of Assisi. This is the story of one of the most revered social icons of Philippine high society.

Her security staff was struck by tragedy over a year ago when the house he had saved for was burned. She was deeply affected by this. When her security reported for work, she saw him and together they cried. Then she personally coordinated her staff to help him and his family get what they needed, even using her own credit card.

This is an example of trumping the stereotype of the rich and famous as detached from the rest of the world. The other stereotype of the poor as lazy and petty criminals (or criminals as not human) is just as prevalent, if not worse.

Antidote

“The Lord looks into the heart.” This is the antidote to stereotyping; to look into the heart of others and understand their hopes and fears, their dreams and frustrations, their joy and pain. If the Lord did not look into our heart, there would have been no King David for the Chosen People, no Jesus Christ for us.

In his latest book, “Thank You for Being Late,” Thomas Friedman talks about how social media has become a powerful tool for people across the world to gain freedom from oppression and tyranny. At the same time, he also cites how “freedom from” falls short of the promised change and a better life for the people.

As Ignatius of Loyola 500 years earlier pointed out, “freedom from” is simply the entry point into the journey toward authentic freedom. It must lead to a “freedom to” commit and to act, to build this hoped-for change and better life.

Solid foundation

In today’s second reading in his Letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul writes, “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.”

“Lux in Domino—light in the Lord” is meant to be lived out. The “freedom from” darkness to light must level up to a “freedom to… live as children of light” and produce “goodness and righteousness and truth.”

The Gospel story today gives us the core lesson on seeing with the heart to see rightly and to see what is essential, in the tension between Christ and the Pharisees. Christ wins by turning the tension into creative tension that results in the blind man’s complete freedom and salvation. The Pharisees, meanwhile, blindly stick to distorted dogma (on the Sabbath rule), ending up with a distorted treatment of the blind man: “You are a sinner, how dare you teach us!”—topped by them throwing him out.

Note that when Christ hears of this, “he found him.” This means Christ sought him out. Then when he meets him again, he does not even interrogate him, but asks him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

Spiritual healing

Christ gives the man something to believe in. From beginning to end, Christ’s relationship with the man was from the heart, thus he was able to see rightly and see what was essential. What began as a physical healing led to a spiritual healing; from “freedom from” blindness to “freedom to” believe in the light, to worship and follow him.

The past months, we have been “upgrading” our curriculum for our work with public school teachers as we work toward becoming a Teachers College. Over a week ago, I introduced a synthesis framework for the process of our education, training and formation curriculum from Fr. Hans Kung, SJ.

Father Kung points out that we must give people something to live on, something to live for and something to die for. That something to live on is the “freedom from,” and the realm of “freedom to” is in discovering something to live for and something to die for.

Discovering something or someone to die for is what leads us to see rightly and to what is essential. This discovery can only be made with the heart and soul. The universal longing to see rightly and to see what is essential finds its fulfillment in the answer to this question, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” —CONTRIBUTED