Human vision is an odd phenomenon. Your eyes and brain are constantly processing tremendous amounts of information without you consciously being aware of it. Wherever you’re at right now, take a moment. Look around. Zoom in on something. Did you see something that you weren’t really aware of before, or that you were probably vaguely aware of in the past but weren’t consciously aware of? I won’t give an exhaustive list, but at my desk I see two pennies and a quarter, several business cards, a receipt, a stapler, an old thumb drive, and a button, among jillions of other bits of ephemera.
But it’s not essential for our minds to process everything that’s in front of us. Our brains usually take a shortcut along the lines of, “Is that going to eat us?” or, “Is that a great find I need to take advantage of?” If the answer is, “No,” then we tend to blot it out.
In the English language, there are a couple of basic words we use to encompass receiving most of our visual input. Usually we use “look” or “see.” — “Look at this!” “Did you see that?” “Did you happen to see my sweater in the other room?” “Can you take a look at the cookies and see if they’re done cooking?”
But there’s another word that we use in English — a much rarer word, when we’re supposed to elevate above the mere act of taking a glance, and really supposed to delve in to what we can perceive.
Three times this word is used: Behold.
My dictionary defines “behold” as: see or observe (a thing or person, especially a remarkable or impressive one).
In other words, if we are to “behold” something, we’re to do more than give it a passing glance. We’re to really look at it, and think about it. When I was reflecting on this, I came to think of “beholding” as “looking with our heart.”
The act of beholding comes with analysis and reflection. Gabriel isn’t giving a one-time status update: The angel informs Mary (and us) that the impossible is becoming tangible, that the culmination of millennia of God’s plan is coming to fruition. And Mary, in return, acknowledges this through the use of “behold” herself. This isn’t the casual utterance of “I see what you mean,” but a total acceptance and commitment to God’s plan, even if she doesn’t fully understand it yet.
Our lives are a constant barrage of visual stimuli. The device you’re using to read this can probably deliver a dozen other options for things to see at the press of a finger. The modern world is a tsunami of stimulus, battling for our attention.
Listen with your whole presence.
Look with your heart.
Behold.
