Mirror/Face of God
If the soul remains quiet and at rest within itself, it will see the image of God reflected in its own clear waters. Francisco de Osuna
Gregg’s Reflection
“If a child receives loving mirroring from mother and father, he develops more ‘mirror neurons‘ in brain and body and can more easily empathize with others. Some people cannot feel other peoples’ suffering, a condition which at its worst, creates sociopathic and psychopathic personalities. If you didn’t get that mirroring as a child, and you don’t relate easily to others’ pain, I urge you to build the daily practice of looking at Jesus on the cross.” Richard Rohr, Living School Teaching
In my structural coaching work, I am a mirror reflecting back the beauty I see in my client as the beloved of God. It is amazing the joy I see in their faces when I can mirror the beauty in them, despite their brokenness.
“God, you are the sun, I am your reflection. When God shines, we reflect.“ Mechthild of Magdeburg, Matthew Fox, Christian Mystics, p. 73
I am reminded of a beautiful song by Sara Groves, You Are the Sun. Listen:
Journaling Prompts
Who has reflected back to you the beauty of who you are? Reflect on how that felt, and how it changed you. How have you helped others to see the beauty of being the beloved?
Scripture
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.”
Genesis 1:26
The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26
You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.”
Psalm 27:8
When shall I come and behold the face of God?
Psalm 42:1-2
Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression?
Psalm 44:24
Just as the water reflects the face, so one human reflects another.
Proverbs 27:19
There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.
Matthew 17:2
Now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face.
1 Corinthians 13:12
All of us with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18. In prayer, we merely keep returning the divine gaze and we become its reflection. Richard Rohr, Naked Now, p. 22
But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is a Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:16-18
Everything exposed to the light becomes the light.
Ephesians 5:14.
Christ is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being.
Hebrews 1:3
Ancient Writings
Place your mind before the mirror of eternity! Place your soul in the brilliance of glory! Place your heart in the figure of the divine substance, and threw Contemplation, allow your entire being to be transformed into the image of the Godhead itself, so that you may taste the hidden sweetness that God has reserved for his lovers.
St Claire, Armstrong, Third Letter to Agnes of Prague, Claire of Assisi, Early Documents, p. 51
Theosis is understood as a true, objective sharing and growing in our divine nature, which was then reflected and received in humans as in a mirror. All we can really do is polish our own mirror to reflect the gift of this Godself more perfectly.
St Claire, Armstrong, Third Letter to Agnes of Prague, Claire of Assisi, Early Documents, p. 55
If you want to learn something that will really help you, learn to see yourself as God sees you and not as you see yourself in the distorted mirror of your own self-importance.
It is tears of longing that clean the mirror of the heart.
Rumi
A Friend is a mirror of clear water.
Rumi
In the soul's journey to God we must present to ourselves the whole material world as the first mirror through which we may pass over to the Supreme.
Bonaventure, The Soul’s Journey to God, p. 9
By dwelling on creatures, the mind is inflated to love the divine goodness. We love God and know God in the mirror of God’s creatures.
Thomas Aquinas.
God has produced a work in which the divine likeness is clearly reflected-I mean by this, the world itself.
Thomas Aquinas, Matthew Fox, Christian Mystics, p. 103
Those who look upon you with a loving face will find your face looking at them with love...Those who gaze at you in joy will find your face joyfully reflected back at them.
Nicolas of Cusa, Matthew Fox, Christian Mystics, p. 152
If the soul remains quiet and at rest within itself, it will see the image of God reflected in its own clear waters more resplendent there than in any other things, provided the disturbing turmoil of thoughts dies down.
Francisco de Osuna, Third Spiritual Alphabet, p. 566
Everyone finds calm and rest at their center. By meditating upon the created as mirrors, we contemplate the creator and we praise and call him by name.
St. Nicodemus, Carl McColman, Christian Mystics, p. 112
A pilgrim looked at the reflection of a mountain in Stillwater. It was a reflection that first caught his attention. But presently he raised his eyes to the mountain. Reflect Me, said his Father to him, and others will look at you. Then they will look up, and see me. And the stiller the water the more perfect the reflection.
Amy Carmichael, Celtic Daily Prayer, p. 579
Modern Writings
In Christ humankind gives God a human countenance and God gives it a divine countenance.
Gustavo Gutierrez, Spiritual Writings, p. 50
Having someone look at us with love can be a healing and transformative experience. Sometimes we need a human gaze to mirror and convey God’s unconditional acceptance.
Richard Rohr, CAC Morning Devotion, 8/10/19
Above almost any other need, human beings long to have another person look into their faces with love and acceptance. The issue is that we lack practical knowledge about how to give one another the attention we crave.
If I can shine positive attention on others, I can help them to blossom. If I see potential in others, they may come to see potential in themselves. True understanding is one of the most generous gifts any of us can give to another.
Illuminators have a persistent curiosity about other people. They have been trained or have trained themselves in the craft of understanding others. They know how to ask the right questions at the right times — so that they can see things, at least a bit, from another’s point of view. They shine the brightness of their care on people and make them feel bigger, respected, lit up. So over the past four years I’ve been working on a book called “How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen.”
David Brooks, The Essential Skills for Being Human, NY Times 10/19/23
The true and essential work of all religion is to help us recognize and recover the divine image in everything. It is to mirror things correctly, deeply, and fully until all things know who they are. A mirror by its nature reflects impartially, equally, effortlessly, spontaneously, and endlessly. It does not produce the image, nor does it filter the image according to its perceptions or preferences. Authentic mirroring can only call forth what is already there.
Richard Rohr, CAC Morning Devotion, 4/18/21
It seems that we humans are two-way mirrors, reflecting both inner and outer worlds. We project ourselves onto outer things and these very things also reflect back to us our own unfolding identity. Mirroring is the way that contemplatives see, subject to subject rather than subject to object.
Richard Rohr, CAC Morning Devotion, 12/4/23
Love is like a mirror. The mirror is without ego. The mirror is always empty of itself and therefore able to receive the other. It receives and reflects back what is there, nothing more and nothing less. The mirror is the perfect lover and contemplative. It sees as God sees.
Richard Rohr, Living School Teaching
There is a divine mirror that might be called the very “Mind of Christ.” The Christ mirror fully knows and loves us from all eternity and reflects that image back to us. I cannot logically prove this to you, but I do know that people who live inside this resonance are both happy and healthy.
Richard Rohr, Universal Christ, p. 59-61
Like any true mirror, the gaze of God receives us exactly as we are, without judgment or distortion. Such perfect receiving is what transforms us. Being totally received as we truly are is what we wait and long for our whole lives. All we can really do is receive and return the loving gaze every day.
Such people can heal the world as they pass on this mirroring. The One who knows all has no trouble including, accepting and forgiving all. Soon we who are gazed upon so perfectly can pass on the same accepting gaze to all others who need it.
Richard Rohr, A Spring Within, p. 251
If we are to see as Jesus sees, first we must become mirrors. This means that we receive things exactly as they are, without distorting them to our liking or disliking. Then our love can be authentic. To love demands a major transformation of consciousness. We must be liberated from ourselves and get out of the way.
When our own admired images are in the way you cannot mirror anyone else. Judgments and opinions fog the mirror and keep us from seeing clearly. if we do not detach from ourselves in this way and become clear, open mirrors, then we don’t have any authentic emotions at all. They have us.
Richard Rohr, On the Threshold of Transformation, p. 174
Until we are grounded in a transcendent reference point, we are subject to other’s evaluation of us. The deep affirmation and total validation that the soul desires can come only from nakedness before God, who is the Mirror that always sees and loves his Son in us-until we can see it too. (See Rom 8:29, 2 Cor 3:18, Col 3:10-11)
Richard Rohr, On the Threshold of Transformation, p. 180
You are the mirror in which God sees Himself.
Cynthia Bourgeault, Wisdom Way of Knowing, p. 52
Like a storm tossed lake, our own waves and agitation get in the way of a clear picture. Training in wisdom has to do with purifying the heart and polishing the mirror of awareness, by gradually freeing it from domination by the small self ego. As the heart becomes undivided, a still and accurately reflecting mirror, it begins to be able to see and swim in the deeper waters of the Divine coming into form.
Cynthia Bourgeault, Wisdom Way of Knowing, p. 87-88
As I learned to gaze into the secret of God’s face, I would discover it to be a mirror, reflecting back to me who God eternally knows and calls me to be in the midst of all that remained unresolved in my mind and heart.
James Finley, The Healing Path, p. 62
Just as we are asked to see all creatures as a mirror of God, God also sees the God-self in all creatures, and this is the source of divine delight. Is this not the artist celebrating both the making and what’s made.
Matthew Fox, Christian Mystics, p. 135
The human heart is like a mirror in which the image of God is reflected. However, if a mirror gets covered in dirt and grime it can be hard to see that image. The blurred reflection might not actually resemble that which it is an image of. The way in which we clean the mirror of our hearts while still in this life is by letting go of all the things which are covering the reflective surface of our hearts.
The light of God’s eternal fire is always shining. It falls upon our hearts without ceasing at all times. As soon as the dirt and grime on the surface of our hearts is cleared away, the light fills the mirror completely and the mirror itself becomes a source of light.
When we are filled with the light of God we become like Christ, for it is the light of Christ which we are consumed by and which we ourselves pour out into the world. This is why it is called deification, because we become like God, whose image we are by nature.
Justin Coutts, In Search for a New Eden, 6/22/22