Open our eyes to the needs of our brothers and sisters; inspire in us words and actions to comfort those who labor and are burdened. [Eucharistic Prayer]

                                                               
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I remember it well. I’m twenty-four years old, studying at San Jose State, and taking a summer class (Quantitative Business Analysis). I sit in the back of the class while the prof works his way through an equation and a matrix on the chalkboard. Then, it dawns on me that I can no longer make out what he’s writing. On the drive home on 280, I realize that the large road signs are out of focus until I’m almost on top of them.

Growing up, I was always told I had perfect eyesight, but now I need to start wearing eyeglasses. Since then, I’ve been grateful for my eyeglasses, because they bring life around me into sharper focus.

That’s what Jesus is talking about in today’s Gospel proclamation. He’s in the role of teacher, speaking of how his disciples (including you and me) can bring life into a sharper focus by wearing the eyeglasses of faith. He speaks of commonly held principles, but doesn’t leave them there. Instead, he turns them into bolder, more challenging principles. Jesus wants us to see life in sharper detail. Jesus wants us to put on his eyeglasses and to give life his focus.

Jesus picks up on common religious standards of his day, but then extends them to a higher level. When Jesus speaks of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” he’s speaking to the Old Testament standard of limiting the cruelties that be done in the face of an offense. It’s a standard that’s quite reasonable, that is, there ought to be a proportionate response that restricts the cycle of endless blood-letting. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth , and nothing more.
                                                      
And yet, Jesus calls us to an even sharper focus for how we live our lives. When we wear the eyeglasses of faith, when we look at life as Jesus does, we will then carry no desire for revenge at all, no desire to get even, no desire to settle an old score. Jesus calls you and me to meet evil with compassion. That’s a high and difficult standard. Yes, we might have to draw a firm line, and there are consequences for bad behavior, but compassion for the offender should remain in the equation. That’s the life of a disciple. That’s a life lived with the eyeglasses of faith.

It’s not just violence that we face with compassion.

Friday evening, four of our parishioners prepared a chicken casserole dinner that they took to the Safe Parking lot at a neighboring parish. It’s where folks without a proper home to live in can safely overnight in their cars. Other parishioners also take turns at preparing a dinner for people staying there. These dinners come from seeing life with the sharpened focus of Jesus. Friday’s dinner was prepared, because four people are wearing the eyeglasses of faith.

Lent begins in another week and a half. With Lent, we’ll offer another opportunity to see life with the sharper focus that Jesus calls us to possess. Next Sunday, look for Rice Bowl boxes that we receive from Catholic Relief Services. They arrive flat, but easily pop open with a slot on top like your childhood piggy bank.

The idea is to keep a Rice Bowl box where it serves as a reminder to drop in your loose change each day. At the end of Lent, you can bring the box to church, and the loose change goes to the worthy cause of Catholic Relief Services. More than that, a Rice Bowl box can help sharpen your focus for seeing life with the vision of Jesus. A Rice Bowl box can help you and me wear the eyeglasses of faith.

I ask you to look for boxes next weekend, to take one (or two) home, and to place it where it can serve as regular reminder to all in the house to look upon the needs of others with the focused compassion of Jesus Christ.

Teenagers, I also invite you to pick up a Rice Bowl box and to keep it on your nightstand or dresser top where you can drop in your spare change, too.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ sets before us the high standard of focused compassion, because God’s compassion for you and me sets the standard high. Of course, our basic humanity makes that high standard difficult to achieve. And yet, instead of setting it aside, we keep it before us as a goal worth striving for. When we extend our hearts and hands to receive Jesus himself, we open ourselves to the grace we need to wear the eyeglasses of faith, to see life with the same focus that Jesus sees life.

We choose to follow Jesus Christ.