Daily Reading for July 15
The essence of prayer is to hear the voice of another, of Christ, but likewise to hear the voice of each person I meet in whom Christ also addresses me. His voice comes to me in every human voice, and his face is infinitely varied. It is present in the face of the wayfarer on the road to Emmaus; it is present in the gardener speaking to Mary Magdalen, it is present in my next-door neighbour. God became incarnate so that man might contemplate his face in every face. Perfect prayer seeks this presence of Christ and recognizes it in every human face. The unique image of Christ is the ikon, but every human face is an ikon of Christ, discovered by a prayerful person.
From Catherine de Hueck Doherty, quoted in Seeking God: The Way of St. Benedict by Esther de Waal (Liturgical Press, 1984).