Today at Mass, while we prayed to the Lord to have mercy on us, I began to cry from the beautiful sight I was allowed to see…

In front of my pew was a small group of people who could not hear. They were all deaf, and were watching the signers interpret Mass. I watched with wonder as they signed their prayers into the air (I learned how to sign Alleluia!). There were also people who could not control their speech and bodies like we can. Most of them were young — just children.

But as we chanted the Kyrie… Eleison… I saw, in my mind, a blind man rising into Heaven on the last day. His name was David. Water drooled from his eyes, and he was kneeling in a puddle of his own tears. He was weeping, not because he was afraid, or sad… but because he could hear so many of his friends singing, laughing, dancing! He knew something amazing was happening to them.
And then the blind man felt two hands touch his face. The fingers found his eyes, and wiped the tears from his eyelids. He hears the Man say to him, “David — open your eyes and see.”

And David opens.

First, everything is blurry. But he cries even more — just being able to see haziness brings him unbelievable joy. Soon he realizes it is his own tears that he is looking through. He has never even seen his own tears before…

Then the Man wipes David’s eyes dry.

Then David sees.

For the first time in his existence — he sees. And the first face he sees is the Face of Love. The Face of the Lord. Smiling at him, welcoming him into paradise.

All around them are the blind who now see. How happy they are to finally know sight, to finally see how beautiful Beauty can be.

I cry with them… Christe Eleison… Christ have mercy…

Then I see the deaf. A deaf woman watches all those in Heaven, singing and laughing and dancing! She can see them open their mouths, their lungs filling Creation with song… but there is no music for her, no laughter, nothing.

She watches the Man approach — He puts His hands to her ears. He brushes her hair back and her ears blossom. She hears, for the first time, her heart racing with excitement — her lungs wild and weeping. “Sally… listen… we sing for you… we all sing for you…” The voice of Love calls to her — the voice of the Lord.

Heaven sings for her. The first song she ever listens to in her entire existence is the song of stars and sky, the music of saints and angels. How happy they are to finally know music, to finally dance with the rhythm of life.

How happy they are to finally know speech, to finally express their thoughts and loves, to finally sing their hearts into the winds. How happy they are to finally know the flavors they were forbidden to taste, to finally dine at the banquet waiting for them. How happy they are to have their full being as truly theirs at last – at last.

I cry with them — our tears trickling down from Heaven onto earth… Kyrie Eleison… Lord have mercy… on me…

How much beauty there is that I know not how to gaze upon.
How much melody there is that I know not how to hear.
How much life there is that I know not how to live.
How many beloveds there are that I know not how to love.
How many blessings there are that I know not how to share…