Freed From Fate

You are set free from the ruling spirits of the universe. Colossians 2: 20

The belief is common in some country areas that there are people who can cast an evil eye on anything they please; for example, if they cast an evil eye on you, you may miscarry a baby or have a miscarriage of justice. There are modern forms of this belief which have an almost universal and a malign influence. Many of us go through life conditioned by what someone has said about us. Perhaps a parent told us that we would never be any good at something; maybe we are into ‘channelling’ or we are always reading horoscopes. We accept an image of ourselves that is distorted by other people’s perceptions; we act out the false information that has been fed to us. We live a lie. We are not free to rise to our God-given destiny.

The Christian discovers that no one need be the prisoner of fate. The eyes of Jesus’ mother Mary were able to look upon the awful agony of her son, and share something of his sacrificial love. This spurs us to believe that we can ask Jesus to cast his eyes, with those of his mother, upon us. Their eyes of love, which want only what is true and best for us, have power to override any spell that a lesser and evil eye has cast upon us.

When Mary saw him, as she stood,
High on the cross, all torn and rent,
Rained from her eyes three showers of blood
And at its foot she made lament.

An Evil eye has me undone
Paling my face in dule and dree
I cry to Mary and her Son
Take the ill eye away from me.
From the Religious Songs of Connacht collected by Douglas Hyde

Lord, I want to name those of my reflex actions
that spring from what others have put upon me
through their looks or their words.
I give these to you.
Help me to see myself as you see me.
Set me free to be your child, your adult,
moving freely as a person under the influence of your Spirit.