“Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold [the risen Christ] in all his redeeming work,” we pray in our collect for this Sunday. All the lessons in our lectionary today tell stories of those whose eyes were opened: Saul on the way to Damascus, the psalmist in the joy of his recovery, John in his visions on Patmos, and the seven fishermen having breakfast on the beach. They were all in very different places in their spiritual lives. God got their attention in very different ways, yet all came to recognize, “It is the Lord!”

The Cosmic Christ comes to open our eyes today, to enable us to see the hand of God at work in our lives. We are often as blind as Saul, as fearful as the psalmist, as asleep as the John on Patmos, as forlorn as the confused disciples wondering what to do, where to go. In the fullness of time, however, when we are ready, our eyes of faith are opened to recognize the Divine Presence however it may be manifest in our lives. Perhaps it will be the creating hand of God bringing new life out of what appears to us like the detritus of death. Or maybe we will experience the inspiration of the Holy Spirit calling us into new avenues of love and service. When we are in grief over any loss in our lives, our eyes may be opened to see the Lord in the comfort, strength, and courage that comes to infuse our hearts. Looking back over the years, we may notice how different our lives are today and realize it has been the transforming hand of God that has been at work, day by day, year by year, bringing us ever closer to wholeness and holiness, to the imago dei we were created to be. When we feel inextricably bound up in the circumstances of our lives, when deep darkness surrounds us on every side, when every door before us seems not only closed, but tightly locked, and somehow, out of the blue, relief surprises us, we recognize redemption is at hand. With the eyes of our faith opened, we too can attest: “It is the Lord!”