"Christian faith is not blind faith. It is the wakeful expectation of God, which touches all the senses. The early Christians prayed standing up, looking up, with outstretched arms and wide-open eyes, ready to walk or to leap forward. We can see this from the pictures in the catacombs in Rome. Their posture reflects tense expectation, not quiet heart searching. We do not watch just because of the dangers that threaten us. We are expecting the salvation of the world. We are watching for God's advent. With tense attention, we open all our senses for the coming of God into our lives, into our society, to this earth. . . .
"To go through life with eyes open for God, to see Christ in oppressed and unimportant people — that is what praying and watching is all about. We believe so that we can see, not so that we can shut our eyes to the world. We believe so that we can see — and can endure what we see.
"To sum up what watching and praying is about, we would have to say that it is about an attentive life. Good will and helpfulness are fine, but they are not enough. Attentiveness is necessary, so that we do the right thing at the right time in the right place.”
