The compassionate gaze

Maybe that is why icons play such a big role in many people's spirituality today. We do not so much look at icons as let them look at us. According to Rowan Williams, the skill of looking at icons, the discipline of "reading" them, is indeed the strange skill of letting yourself be seen, be read' (6). In a world in which we often feel invisible, or just seen from outside, as objects, we need to bask in the gaze of Christ or Our Lady or a saint who looks at us benevolently, who gives us, in Pope Benedict's words, the look of love for which we crave. It offers us the compassionate gaze which the CCTV camera does not give.

Pastoral care in the global village - Timothy Radcliffe

in Pastoral ministry for today: Who do you say that I am? Conference papers 2008

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