As a child grows they go through five stages of development. As a child matures they soon discover that they not only experience physical changes but also cognitive, the way they think and learn and they before long discover that the world is different.
When an optometrist examines an individual’s eyes they use a phoropter to determine the exact eyeglass prescription. The doctor puts the instrument in front of our eyes and flips a series of lens choices. They then ask which of the two lenses in each choice looks clearer. The optometrist asks “which is better one or two? “The phoropter thus evaluates the focusing power of our eyes.
The two most distinctive ways of viewing life can be similar to wearing bifocals. Bifocals have lenses with two parts with different focal lengths. An individual’s vision becomes clearer when they look through one particular lens and the other lens shows a somewhat distorted-fuzzy view. Living our faith can be similar to having our eyes examined.
Think about it.  Our willingness to live our faith as Jesus Christ taught us is spiritually asking ourselves “which is the better way to live”? 1. His way or 2. Our way?
When we live with eyes of faith, our vision of where we are going and what we are doing is made clearer. We will not only see better we will also be encouraged to learn and live by what is taught us by our Christian faith; above all we will experience peace.
“Be imitators of me, as I am Christ. I praise you because you remembered me in everything and hold fast the traditions, just as I handed them on to you.” (1 Cor. 11:1-2)
When we choose to live and look through the opposite lens; our lives become distorted. Sin does present a much prettier picture. If we choose to focus on sin we become so far removed that we soon are swallowed up by the temptations of the seven cardinal sins: pride, envy, wrath (anger), sloth (laziness), avarice (greed), gluttony (disordered appetite) and lust.
I’ve heard about this bifocal view of life from my parents, individuals whom I have been blessed to meet, senior adults and in an article about Communion and Liberation (CL).
Communion and Liberation is a movement that began in Milan in the 1950’s by Fr. Luigi Giussani and approved by John Paul II in 2004. CL proposes that “education doesn’t end at a certain age, but lasts a lifetime because it is always being renewed and deepened. The same is true of the Gospel, which reveals new discoveries even after we’ve heard it a thousand times. The search for what is true, beautiful, and good, and for happiness is never-ending. This is Christianity: the adventure of a life, not a kind of training for life” says Fr. Giussani. (Communion and Liberation: https://english.clonline.org/cl )
Failure to recognize, see and live looking through the right lens will and does impact not only our life but that of those we meet. Like those who have lived the past two thousand years, their faith stories are but to teach us to live and choose the true importance of faith and minister to those of our Christian faith.
The message that all have shared has been “do not be taken in by the materialism and spiritual battle that humanity is undergoing in our world.”  They encourage us to learn, to experience, to view and live the world through the eyes of Christianity and in the power of Jesus Christ.
“Make no mistake about it: there is a devil. He is alive and active in today’s world and shows no signs of letting up. He presents a serious threat to our eternal destiny. He seeks the ruin of our souls.” (Pope Francis: Rebuking the Devil- USCCB)