Who  did  you  come  to  see?  A version of this question is posed by Jesus many times in the Gospels. He asks it of Andrew and John when they begin to follow him. He asks it of Mary Magdalene in the garden of the resurrection. He asks it in today’s Gospel. “What did you go out to the desert  to  see?” There is something innately  human  about  “seeing.” Animals  have  eyes  —  some  with much more powerful vision than our own — but that’s not the kind of seeing Jesus is talking about. We could phrase the question several other ways. “What are you looking for?”  “What  are  you  longing  for?” “Whom do you seek?” It is in seeing for ourselves that our suspicions  or  hypotheses  are confirmed, that our desires discover their fulfillment, and that we can rest for a moment in certainty. John the Baptist  sought  certainty  of  Jesus’ identity. “Are you the one  who is to come,  or  should  we  look  for another?” Jesus sends word to him based  on  the  testimony  of  sight, observations  of  the  mighty  deeds Jesus has begun to work. “Go  and tell John what you hear and see.” God recognizes our desire to see. In the Incarnation, the Word is made flesh. The invisible is made visible. The supernatural is made manifest in an infant who can do little more than the most natural of movements as he feeds, cries, sleeps. We don’t need to wait for Christmas to see God. The work of God is all around us. Those blinded by sin “regain their sight.”  People  overcome backgrounds of poverty and violence to  make  world-changing contributions. Addicts grow and heal. Truth is spoken, and people listen. Let’s pray for the grace to see God’s movement  in  our  lives  this  week. How  have  you  seen  the  work  of God?