On Monday night I had the unusual luxury of an empty house and sosettled down and enjoyed a film that I have long wanted to see called"Last Chance Harvey" It is  simple romance between Dustin Hoffman andEmma Thompson, the latter having had a series of blind dates whichdidn't work. I was idly thinking after the movie what it was that hadmade her meeting with Dustin Hoffman different to her other dates, andrealised it was because he really looked at her and saw who she reallywas.

 

The point of this film review, is that it is unusual to findpeople who care enough to see us as we really are, and when we do itis  a powerful experience. Jesus was the master at it,  with those hemet,  he looked directly at them and they felt they were known, and inbeing known loved.

 

Such a meeting changes us, how we feelabout ourselves and how we feel about others.Henri Nouwen wrote thefollowing about the eyes of an icon of Christ"The same eyes that see into the heart of God saw the suffering hearts of God's people ( John 11; 36),Those eyes which burn like flames of fire penetrating God's owninteriority, also hold oceans of tears for the human sorrow of alltimes and all places."