See what I see

To have seen what I have seen,
see what I see!
(Hamlet - Act III, Scene 1 - spoken by Ophelia)

I have seen much in this year now ending

I have seen things most sacred – innocent human life and the bond of matrimony – trodden into the dust by arrogant human selfishness.

I have seen hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children swept away or crushed by the still-greater powers of nature.

I have seen one of the greatest men of our time relentlessly weighed down by infirmity and then silenced.

I have seen fear and worry in families, pain and doubt in people of faith, and desperate emptiness in the faces of the old and the young.

But I have also seen something else.

*****

I have looked into the eyes of a child, of a boy newly born into the world.

The eyes are clear, bright, and warm.

They look out into the same terrible world that I have seen, but there is no fear in those eyes.

In those eyes, tiny and gentle, there is peace and strength reaching into infinity.

The eyes look at me: they are filled with love, forgiveness, and measureless grace.

*****

Look away for a moment from the trouble of the world.

Look into those eyes and see what I see.

A child is born in Bethlehem.

It is Christ the Lord.

Come, let us adore.