She stopped him, and looked. They had never met before. “Your eyes are good,” she said.  She paused. She emphasized the words with her look and her pause.

She didn’t say beautiful, though it ought to mean the same thing, if goodness and beauty are truly interchangeable.

She chose to say to him, “Your eyes are good.” It is like what Vincent de Paul said about Francis de Sales’ face.

It’s the transfiguration of the body by the Spirit that comes part and parcel with a loving (contemplative) gaze on Jesus.

Related posts:

• The Trace of Transfiguration from Francis de Sales to Alphonsus Liguori
• “Here One Becomes a Saint Quickly!”
• Saint Stephen in Today’s Reading
• Elizabeth of the Trinity: Transfiguration is Possible in the World