Oh hey, there you are. Hello.

“The Christ in me sees the Christ in you.” Father Greg Boyle quoted this frequently during a retreat I attended recently. It keeps occurring to me. I think God wants me to pay attention to it.

When I hear the quote, my first image is of what’s called “the Visitation,” the visit of Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus, to her cousin Elizabeth, pregnant with John the Baptist (Luke 1:39-56). That image haunts me, especially the line Elizabeth cries, “As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” If you have been pregnant or have felt the movement of a fetus in a pregnant woman, can’t you just imagine it? This mysterious swooshy kick or push from within, rippling under the skin?

With that quote in the back of my mind, I have associated other things with it. One is the song “What a Wonderful World” sung by Louis Armstrong. I think of the lines:

I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They're really saying I love you.

The Christ in me sees the Christ in you.

Father Boyle also talked about a passage in Isaiah where God tells his people they will have a new name, “my delight.” Father Boyle works with gang members, “homeboys” and “homegirls.” He told them to imagine if they started calling each other “my delight.” Some of the homies did just that, getting a kick out of saying, “Hi, my delight” to Father Boyle whenever they saw him. He also said multiple times, “Behold the one beholding you and smiling.” In many of the gospel stories, we see Jesus looking in love at people, even those who are scheming against him, Christ seeing the Christ in others.

How glad I am that God sees the Christ in me. How beautiful it is to imagine the Christ in me seeing the Christ in others. Right now when we meet someone there’s hesitancy about what to do: Are they comfortable with me shaking their hand? Should I hold out an elbow? Can I give them a hug? No matter what gesture we use, the Christ in me sees the Christ in you. I imagine me with this invisible beloved child in me facing you, with an invisible beloved child also in you. Even before I say hello or meet your eyes, our two invisible beings see each other and smile. Oh hey, there you are. Hello.