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A very brief word that came to me in the poustinia one day was, “Face God.”
It is not easy to look steadily into the face of another human being. A really prolonged gaze would require the deepest kind of intimacy, understanding and love. If this is difficult with another human being, how difficult it is to gaze steadily into the face of God.
Yet this looking steadily into God’s face is the most life-giving act of which we are capable. Moses was God’s friend and, The Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one man speaks to another (Ex. 33:11).
Moses was a type of all the friends of God, and Jesus assures us that we are now his friends. Deep in our hearts we must not be afraid to gaze into God’s face.
St. Paul says that now we are all gazing on the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces and being transformed from glory to glory into his very image (2 Cor. 3:18). We become what we contemplate. Lord of hosts, turn your face towards us and we shall be saved (Ps 80:19) sings the psalmist.
God is always turning his face towards us, and he desires that we gaze steadily into his face. Whatever in us shies away from this gaze is not from God. On that day in the poustinia, “facing God” was revealed to me as the source of my true life.
