Really Seeing

(This selection "Really Seeing" those entrusted to our care, by Fr. Ron Rolheiser, O.M.I., was taken from 40 Prayer Services for Use in Lasallian Ministries.)

To "really see" someone, especially someone who looks up to you,
is to give that person an important blessing.
In a gaze of recognition, of understanding,
in an appreciative look, there is deep blessing.
Often, it is not so important
that we say much to those for whom we are significant,
but it is very important that we see them.

…Good kings and queens see their people; good parents see their kids;
good teachers see their students; good priests see their parishioners;
good coaches see their players; good executives see their employees;
and, in really good restaurants, the owner comes around to the tables and sees his or her customers
and the customers are, without being able to explain why,
grateful that the owner took the time and pain to see them.
We are blessed by being seen.

…Today the young are not being seen enough in this way.
Our youth are acting out in all kinds of ways
as a means of getting our attention.
They want to, and they need to, be seen by us –
Parents, adults, teachers, priests, coaches, leaders.
They need our blessing.
They need to see, right in our eyes, the radical acceptance of their reality,
and they need to read in our eyes the words:
You are my beloved child; in you I am well-pleased."
Young people need our appreciative gaze;
mostly they simply need our gaze – period.

One of the deepest hungers inside young people
is the hunger for adult connection
the desire to be recognized, seen, by a significant adult.
They desperately need, and badly want,
the blessing that comes from our gaze and presence.
They need for us to see them.