Prayer: Sonnet of the Clean Gaze
A Good Gaze Brings Great Blessings
A bad gaze can lead to crimes. With our sight, we contemplate beauty. Through our vision, the brain and heart are filled with images that influence our decisions and actions. Our eyes are windows to our inner world, through which good or evil enters.
King David, distracted and bored, ended up looking where he shouldn’t have. His uncontrolled impulse and passion led him to kill one of his most loyal servants to take his wife (cf. 2 Samuel 11). The prophet Nathan confronts him about his sin, and God’s grace transforms him.
The Gaze Holds a World
If only we could always see with the eyes of Jesus! This is something we can ask for, just as the blind man in the Gospel of Mark did:
Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
“Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road (cf. Mark 10:46-52).
Asking for a Pure, Clean, Good, Beautiful, and True Gaze
“Rabbi, I want to see” is Bartimaeus’s powerful and effective plea. It is wise advice and a short, simple prayer. In the challenge to see as Jesus sees and to guide our passions, we offer this Sonnet of the Clean Gaze:
A pure gaze transforms the heart and brings new brilliance to life. It allows us to recognize the sacred within ourselves and others. That is why Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8).
Sonnet of the Clean Gaze
In your image, Lord, you fashioned me,
Body and soul that you long to save.
In your love, I trust and humbly crave,
For you willed me your likeness to be.
Grant me the joy of beauty’s delight,
That in each soul you cause to shine bright.
Do not let me tear the sacred veil,
Which your divine will chose to unveil.
Let your pure goodness dazzle my sight,
And blind me to foolish, errant ways,
That I may not steal what’s others’ right.
A helm of hope and love, Lord, I plead,
To aid me in this noble endeavor.
Cleanse my heart with your truth forever.
Wenceslao Vial Mena
See also: How to give up pornography
