Praying with Eyes Open

Do you usually pray with your eyes open or closed? I’m a closed eye pray-er, mostly.  My son-in-law told my daughter that I was sleeping during Mass one day when they were with us on a Sunday morning.  Not so.  So reading the following in the JPIC chapter of the FUN manual* was an “eye opener.”
 
 “There is an Eastern Catholic and Orthodox tradition of gazing at an icon and keeping one’s eyes open while praying.  Through this practice, relationship develops and deepens with the “subject” of the icon.  It is nothing new using an icon or western depiction of Jesus, Mary, saints or an event as a focus of meditation.  Keeping our eyes open the entire time is new. One begins to see with eyes of Jesus – you become what you gaze upon.”
 
This is an interesting idea to me.  Praying with eyes open could mean gazing at the natural world around us to realize our oneness with all of creation, so much a part of what it means to be a follower of Francis.  It can mean picturing in our mind or placing before us a photo of someone we love and loving more deeply in concentration. It could mean focusing on a disturbing headline or image in the newspaper and offering our prayers for the people involved. 
 
“With eyes open one’s gaze is intermixed – Christ with the surrounding world.  We often close our eyes in prayer to rid ourselves of distraction.  Yet, the distraction begs for our prayer and attention. I don’t mean the idle wandering of the mind when I speak of distraction; rather that a particular person or situation comes to mind.  This compels listening for how to respond.

 
Praying with eyes open broadens the view of the world around me.  Everything is more vibrant, more alive, perhaps more real than previously experienced.
 
Every decision to respond to the needs of others is sacred and filled with all that is holy.  Every decision not to respond is empty of sacredness.  Praying with our eyes open transforms us and aids in making present the Kingdom of God.”
 
This is where our prayer really connects with the real world, when we are moved to action, to concretely sharing the compassion and hope and consolation of Jesus to a world much in need of God’s love. Open our eyes, Lord!
 

*For Up to Now (referred to as the FUN Manual) is a resource document for initial Franciscan formation given to us by a National Formation Commission in 2011.  The JPIC chapter was written by Pat Brandwein-Ball, OSF

Mary Higgins, JPIC animator