Acquiring an Eye
‘Chaste seeing can be re-learned. A simple, unmingled eye can be re-acquired. St Bruno assured his friend Raoul of this during his life’s last decade. Settled in Calabria, he explained the nature of the Carthusian call: “What benefit and divine gladness the desert’s solitude and silence reserve for those who love it, only those who have experienced it can know. Here, the strong can enter into themselves and remain there, with themselves, as much as they like, diligently cultivating seeds of virtue and eating happily the fruits of paradise. Here, they can acquire the eye whose serene gaze wounds the Bridegroom with love. Such an eye, being pure and uncontaminated, allows them to see God.” […] The wound which a chaste eye inflicts does not humiliate or hurt. It is sweet, like the infant’s gaze. It cuts us to the quick but feels like a blessing, reminding us of what sight can be like. To see in this manner is to re-enter paradise, says Bruno. It is part of the process of exchanging the garment of skin for the robe of glory. Sight born of love can become an act of love.’ From Chastity.
