With eyes to see

Yesterday morning I paid a visit to the local optometrist - which happens also to be from where I was returning the day of the picture - to pick up my first pair of contact lenses.

I have thought about wearing contacts for many years now but only within the past eighteen months or so has the idea begun to sound like a good one. Now, into my second day with contacts, I am not so sure.

Wearing them thus far is both a penance and an opportunity for patience and for humility, as I am continually refocusing my gaze to read through the tears in my eyes.

Within a few more days I think my eyelids will sufficiently adjust to the lenses but until soch time I will not attempt to celebrate the Holy Mass with them.

One thing particuarly strikes me now: the world seems so much bigger, brighter, vivid and clearer than it does with my glasses, even though the prescription is virtually the same (so close that the doctor felt it unecessary to give me a new pair of glasses).

If today goes as yesterday, in about three hours time I will want to rip my eyes out of the sockets to rid my eyelids of the irritation of the contact lenses. Let's hope I don't...

Saint Lucy, pray for me! Oh, the Catholic sensibilities!