Teaching · Way of Perfection
I ask you only to look at Him
The simplest prayer in the world: to look at the One who is looking at us.
“I am not asking you now to think about Him, nor to draw out many concepts, nor to make great and subtle considerations with your understanding; I ask you only to look at Him.”
Saint Teresa of Jesus — Way of Perfection, ch. 26
To understand
Looking, instead of manufacturing
Here the Saint dismantles the idea that praying means thinking complicated things. She asks for no concepts or considerations: she asks for a gaze. To set the eyes of the soul on Christ — on His face, His Passion, His joy — and let oneself be looked at.
It is the prayer of those who have no words: the sick, the weary, the exhausted mother. To look and to be looked at. From that gaze, she says, everything else is born: comfort, companionship and love.
The source
Way of Perfection, chapter 26
In this chapter the Saint teaches her famous “prayer of recollection”: picturing Christ near, looking at Him, speaking to Him as to a friend — and praying like this, slowly, through the Our Father.
Another word of hers
“Accustom yourselves to pray the Our Father with this recollection, and you will see the gain before long.”
Saint Teresa of Jesus — Way of Perfection
To pray and to teach
How to bring this teaching into prayer
This is how we use it in the prayer group; it works just as well for praying alone or as a family.
1
Read slowly
Read the text twice, aloud, without hurry. The second time, slower than the first.
2
Keep silence
A moment of silence. Let one word or phrase stay with each person.
3
Talk through the questions
Share unhurriedly and without debate: nothing is argued here — we share what God is showing us.
4
End with a resolution
Each person names one concrete step for the week, and you close with a prayer.
Questions to talk about
- Is my prayer more like manufacturing thoughts, or like looking at a Person?
- Which image of Christ is easiest for me to look at: the friend, the crucified, the risen one?
- Can I give myself five minutes today of simply looking and letting myself be looked at?
For daily life
Three ways to practice it this week
1
Find an image of Christ that speaks to you, and pray while looking at it.
2
Pray one Our Father a day, slowly, looking at Him between each phrase.
3
In the waiting room, on the bus: close your eyes for a minute and let yourself be looked at.