Let our Inner eyes be opened to recognize Jesus. Num. 24:2-7, 15-17 // Mt

Third Week of Advent, Monday

Numbers 24:2-7, 15-17. Matthew 21:23-27

One whose eyes is opened

Today’s Word of God invites us to reflect on a simple but demanding truth: only those whose eyes are opened truly recognize God. The wonder of Christ’s coming is not that everyone saw Him, but that only those who knew how to see recognized Him.

The events of life may happen externally, but the way we see them determines how we respond. Learning to see positively and fully changes everything.

This is exactly what today’s first reading shows us. Balaam, a prophet, is summoned by King Balak to curse Israel. In the ancient world, invoking a god’s name to curse an enemy was believed to bring destruction. Balaam sets out, but God intervenes—even opening the mouth of a donkey—to stop him. In that strange and humbling moment, Balaam’s eyes are opened.

He describes himself as “one whose eye is opened” and proclaims: “I see him, though not now; I behold him, though not near… a star shall come out of Jacob.” What began as a mission of destruction becomes a prophecy of hope. When Balaam’s vision changes, a curse turns into a blessing.

In the Gospel, we meet the chief priests and elders who question Jesus’ authority. They hesitate to accept the heavenly origin of John the Baptist’s mission, and for the same reason they cannot accept Jesus. Their problem is not lack of intelligence or religious training; it is a closed vision. They see Jesus, but they cannot recognize Him as the Messiah. Without a change of vision, God stands before them unseen.

This is the heart of today’s message: God cannot be recognized without a transformed way of seeing.

From Word to Life

Advent invites us to examine our own vision. Are we looking at life, people, and events with narrow eyes or with open hearts? In the Nativity story, the Magi see more than a child—they see the King of the Jews. Herod sees only a threat. The difference is not the child, but the vision of those who look.

Those who see with openness become wise. Those who cling to fear and power remain blind.

As we journey closer to Christmas, let us pray for the grace to be “ones whose eyes are opened”—able to recognize God’s presence, to see hope where others see threat, and to discover Christ where others see only the ordinary.