WHO DO YOU SEE?
For cognitive therapists, many of our problems arise from what we see. In a very real sense, what we see is what we get. A distorted view makes for twisted attitudes and leads to wrongful choices. Known as cognitive distortions, they form a map of reality for us, and a mistaken map won’t lead to the right destination.
We can say that Peter, at least at some point, didn’t see rightly. As he walked on water, he lost his vision. He missed out on the Lord and saw the waves. That was when he began to sink.
One of my favorite saints is St. Benedict Menni. He suffered greatly on account of envious and bad-willed ecclesiastics. He died in exile, forbidden to have any contact with the congregation he founded. But throughout his painful ordeal, he saw everything as just one more chance to fulfill his lifetime vision: rogar, trabajar, padecer, sufrir, amar a Dios y al projimo, y callar! (Pray, work, endure, suffer, love God and neighbor, and keep silent.)
St. Benedict Menni was all too aware of the undeserved pain. But he had a different way of looking at things. He saw differently. He saw the Lord above everything else. And that vision transformed him. He might have seen the wrong things happening to him, but he saw them rightly. Last year, I narrated to you a portion of my own “dark night of the soul,” my lowest moments. I felt like I was back to that mountain trekking experience in pitch darkness. I saw nothing else but bad will from people who should have supported me. I sensed nothing but lack of appreciation from the very congregation for whom I spent my young and most productive years. I was bitter.
But God found a way to nudge me back to a healthy vision. The sisters of St. Benedict invited me to preach to them. They gave me a dozen books to read, including the life of their founder. As I read his story, I broke down. It was then I realized I had a problem with vision. I was sinking because I saw the waves, but not the Lord! Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB
REFLECTION QUESTION: When problems come, what do you focus on — the waves or the Lord?
Lord Jesus, hold my hand when I start to lose my grip on You. Let me focus my eyes on You always , no matter what my situation in life is.
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