“The light of thy body is thy eye. If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be lightsome. But if thy eye be evil thy whole body shall be darksome. If then the light that is in thee, be darkness: the darkness itself how great shall it be!”
The eye Jesus refers to is the understanding, the eye of the soul, and therefore shows the importance of wisdom in the Christian life: “I wished, and understanding was given me: and I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came upon me: and I preferred her before kingdoms and thrones, and esteemed riches nothing in comparison of her” (Wisdom 7:7-8). While it is one thing to love, it is another according to do so according to divine wisdom and the way of God’s love: “Love is the keeping of [wisdom’s] laws” (Wisdom 6:19). True insight into the ways of God, the nature of the human person, and the beauty of reality allows one’s image of these things to be perfected, bringing life to its true expression of magnificence. True knowledge of God’s infinite mercy corrects your image of Him, which helps you realize He will never draw back His love from you: “Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee” (Isaias 49:15). Understanding of people, realizing that there is nothing more beautiful on earth than another person allows you to treat your neighbor with God-given reverence and respect: “Where there is no knowledge of the soul, there is no good” (Proverbs 19:2). Finally, realizing that all created things are embodied love and sing out the love of God simply by their existing lets you never leave the presence of God, seeing His love for you everywhere: “Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: sing to the Lord, all the earth” (Psalm 95:1). There is a gradual opening of your spiritual eye, from the darkness of vice, from which Jesus’ love will deliver you: “And Jesus stood, and called them, and said: ‘What will ye that I do to you?’ They say to him: ‘Lord, that our eyes be opened’” (Matthew 20:32-33). From this is an ascent to the beauty of nature: “The heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of his hands” (Psalm 18:2), to the beauty of the person and the soul and the ways in which love draws each to their full beauty: “And he took me up in spirit to a great and high mountain: and he shewed me the holy city Jerusalem,” which in one sense is the soul, “coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and the light thereof was like to a precious stone, as to the jasper stone, even as crystal” (Apocalypse 22:10-11). Finally, in seeing the beauty of the ways of the Lord and His gifts, you can come to understand His infinite love, seeing His effects and grasping the cause, which is love: “I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts” (Exodus 33:23), that is, the effects of God’s love, “and when he passed before him, he said, O the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, patient and of much compassion, and true, who keepest mercy unto thousands: who takest away iniquity, and wickedness and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7). Thus, when your spiritual eye is entirely God-oriented, which is meant by singular, you see all things as God sees them, which is with love, reverence, and joy: “But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16); “And God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good” (Genesis 1:31). Having a mind filled with the love of God is a feast for the heart, which will radiate into love in all of one’s deeds: “Give me understanding, and I will search thy law; and I will keep it with my whole heart” (Psalm 118:34). This is a life of light: “For thou lightest my lamp, O Lord: O my God enlighten my darkness” (Psalm 17:29). What darkens this are ugly thoughts, be it about God, yourself, others, or the world, which will arise as temptations, but the light of your love can refuse these and cling to faith in the teachings of light: “The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not [overcome] it” (John 1:5); “God is light, and in him there is no darkness” (1 John 1:5). Acting upon these negative thoughts, letting what is ugly steer your way rather than the beautiful things of God, is what leads to the darkening of your whole person. Therefore, you are called to this beautiful way of seeing the world: “For all you are the children of light, and children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness” (1 Thessalonians 5:5), and following where it leads: “Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths” (Psalm 118:105); “Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘I am the light of the world. He that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12), that your life may be a continual prayer, an act of love and thanksgiving for all that comes across your path.