We Become What We Behold

This article was originally published in The Catholic News Herald of the diocese of Charlotte.

There are so many things clamoring for our attention these days, in all different kinds of ways. We are assaulted by advertisements, which are practically unavoidable on every video we watch, on billboards, on the radio and on our social media feeds.

Our calendars are filled with appointments, obligations, and tasks that require more of our time and energy than we even have the chance to realize. We strive to live up to the expectations and standards of the culture around us, whether the culture at large or perhaps just the culture of our parish or our family.

We take in what we see around us, and that shapes how we live our lives and how our minds are formed.

The poet William Blake is credited with the phrase “We become what we behold,” but it’s an idea that echoes throughout Scripture, as well.

What are today’s idols?

In Psalm 115, while describing the idols made by human hands, the psalmist says, “Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.”
We make idols out of lifeless things and then give ourselves over to them as if they had real power, but all we achieve is to become lifeless and malleable like those very things we made. This doesn’t apply just to idols like the Golden Calf in the Exodus story, because even today we fall into worshiping the various technologies that were invented and built by ordinary men and women.

We worship institutions, political parties and sports teams, which were founded and are run by fallen human beings. We worship celebrities, not for who they are as children of God but for who their publicists and managers have shaped and presented them to be.

Besides family and friends, who do you follow on social media? What news threads do you track? Where does your attention take you as you are scrolling and clicking online?

What are we becoming?

St. Paul says in Second Corinthians, “We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” This brings to mind how Moses had to veil himself after conversing face-to-face with God, because his face became so bright and resplendent with mirrored radiance. He was becoming what he beheld, as God’s light and glory were reflected in him.

Stop, look and listen

For many of us, it can feel as if our lives are in constant motion, with schedules that never let up and that keep us rushing from task to task and appointment to appointment. How often do we stop and observe God’s creation, the natural world, around us? The crystal-like frost that covers everything on a chilly morning. The different bird songs that echo through the trees, heralding the approach of spring. The vibrant hues of a sunrise or sunset, especially if you are able to watch the whole show, witnessing the slow but steady shifting of light and colors.

God’s glory can also be found in every person that we encounter; from our spouse and children to the barista who sold you your morning coffee. Every person you meet has an immortal soul destined for eternity, whether that eternity means unification with God and the saints in heaven or an eternity of misery and torment as a result of denying God’s love and mercy. The eternal souls and unrepeatable bodies of those around us should fill us with more awe and wonder than even the Grand Canyon or Mount Everest or a single perfect rose.

There may be people in the world who have given themselves over to evil and sin, but there are also living saints among us. We must always be praying for those poor souls who have fallen into sin, but we must also nourish and encourage ourselves with the images and examples of the saints and the good men and women God has placed in our daily lives.

Choose time with the king

Of course, the greatest thing that we can behold is Christ Himself in the Most Holy Eucharist. It should fill us with awe to think that we are able to regularly behold the living God in such practices as Adoration and that we are able to actually consume Him in Holy Communion during Mass. We are so blessed by the frequency of these opportunities that it becomes easy to take them for granted, to relegate Holy Mass to merely an obligation and duty to be performed or to dismiss the practice of Adoration as something only for the especially “pious.”

If you had an opportunity to see the king of England sitting in state, would you not jump on it? How much more blessed are we that we are able to gaze upon the King of Heaven any time we like!

Our world and our lives are filled with distractions, but we are still creatures with free will and have the ability to choose what it is that we give our attention to. We choose the media we watch, the books and news articles we read, the people we talk to and the activities we spend our time on. Are we looking for God in those things or just the world’s diversions?

The Lord’s glory is everywhere for us to behold in awe, and that is the beauty that we should want to become.