Seek My Face

To you, O my heart, He has said, "Seek My Face!"

Your face, Yahweh, I will seek!  (Psalm 27)

I once adopted a shelter dog as a puppy, even though I went looking for an older dog.  Since I was working every day, I originally did not want a puppy who would be chewing on the furniture, one who needed to be house broken, etc.  I just did not have the time to devote to training a puppy.  However, once my daughter wrapped her arms around this little pit-bull mix, there was no going back.  Ginger came home with us.

From the very beginning, Ginger was an angel-dog.  She watched my face always, to see whether I was happy with her or not.  She would read my expression to see if she was doing what I wanted her to do.  So easy to house-break, so easy to control, Ginger eventually got to the point that I could walk her without a leash.  I had never quite seen a dog like this one.  When we took her for obedience training, the trainer told me during the first class that I should enter her in obedience contests because she naturally did what they usually had to train dogs to do --- she watched my face for commands.  And she had to train me to respond to Ginger visually rather than the other way around!

St. Therese of Lisieux was devoted to "The Holy Face."  Her full title, if I recall, was "Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face."  Until I adopted Ginger, I never quite understood Therese's devotion to the Holy Face.  It has taken me a lifetime almost to understand not only Therese but also Psalm 27, my lifetime scripture!  Seeking the Face of God is now possible to us after the Incarnation.  The humanity of Jesus is the doorway to our communion with God, to oneness with divinity.  We seek His face to see if He is pleased with us in all that we do -- and because He has become one with us in the Eucharist ---we know that He is pleased to call us "brothers (sisters)" though we are sinners.

The "sins" of my earthly brothers and sisters have no bearing or diminishment on my delight in them.  We are "one flesh" and I long to see their faces whenever I can.  I long to hear their voices and their stories without limit!  How much more then does the Son of God long to see us and hear our voices!  Your face, O Lord, I do seek, even as You seek mine!