Psalm 65:5

Come and see the works of God; who is terrible in his counsels over the sons of men. (Psalm 65:5 DR)

Even though it is the same sense, there are nevertheless many ways in which we see things.

There is the passive sense in which we see whatever happens to be in front of us, and—depending on the object—can be something that either we choose to focus on or simply let pass out of our vision. The active sense of seeing, on the other hand, has intention behind it; we choose to direct our gaze towards this object or that, or choose to look away from this or that.

And since seeing is the sense perhaps most analogous to the intellect, what we choose to see or not see sheds some light upon the interior intentions and desires of our hearts, for while we cannot always help what happens to pass in front of our eyes, the things that we choose to look at demonstrate on some level wherein our affections lie.

We often use this sense for our intellect as well, analogizing our understanding in terms of seeing or not seeing. Thus, when someone makes a point to help us understand something, we might as easily respond with I see as with I understand. And when someone seems oblivious to a seemingly obvious truth, we might say I can’t see why they can’t see this.

As the Psalmist continues this Psalm, he has previously given a series of imperatives in response to God’s greatness: jubilate (jubilate), dicite (sing/say), date (give). He now continues with two more imperatives: venite (come) and videte (see).

The first term venite (come) implies that the works of God to be seen are something that one chooses to see; that is, if one is simply passively seeing then one might miss it. When a person who wants to show you something says come and look at this!, the reason they do so is that at that moment you are not in a position to view what they wish you to see. The movement of one’s body so as to see thus becomes analogous to the movement of the will necessary to then see the works of God. That is, one’s will must be prepared to see the works of God, this preparation being done preveniently by God’s grace that we must then cooperate with.

The natural state of man can then be likened to a person sitting in a position where they are unable to see something, and divine grace poured into the soul is the invitation to come and see, the response of the soul to grace through faith being that movement to see what cannot otherwise be seen.

The seeing to which the Psalmist calls—videte— is not just sight or understanding in general but has a very specific object, the works of God. These works of God will be elaborated further on in the Psalm, all of which proclaim the greatness and terribleness of God, Who, as the Psalmist continues, is terrible in His counsels over the sons of men. These counsels are the will of God especially as manifested in the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who obedient to the terrible counsels of the Father became subject to the counsels of the sons of men:

Son of Man indeed He too has been called, and verily Son of Man He became: very Son of God in the form of God; very Son of Man in form of a servant: but do not judge of that form by the condition of others alike: terrible He is in counsels above the sons of men. Sons of men took counsel to crucify Christ, being crucified He blinded the crucifiers. What then have ye done, sons of men, by taking keen counsels against your Lord, in whom was hidden Majesty, and to sight shown weakness? You were taking counsels to destroy, He to blind and save; to blind proud men, to save humble men: but to blind those same proud men, to the end that, being blinded they might be humbled, being humbled might confess, having confessed might be enlightened. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 65, 8.)

This blinding relates to the seeing of the Psalm, in that man in his pride both in his natural state and by response to the works of God is unable to see the glory and majesty of God, his sin blinding him to higher things. And unless grace enlightens his soul, he will remain unable of himself to come and see the works of God:

…[T]he beginning of the said Justification is to be derived from the prevenient grace of God, through Jesus Christ, that is to say, from His vocation, whereby, without any merits existing on their parts, they are called; that so they, who by sins were alienated from God, may be disposed through His quickening and assisting grace, to convert themselves to their own justification, by freely assenting to and co-operating with that said grace: in such sort that, while God touches the heart of man by the illumination of the Holy Ghost, neither is man himself utterly without doing anything while he receives that inspiration, forasmuch as he is also able to reject it; yet is he not able, by his own free will, without the grace of God, to move himself unto justice in His sight. Whence, when it is said in the sacred writings: Turn ye to me, and I will turn to you, we are admonished of our liberty; and when we answer; Convert us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be converted, we confess that we are prevented by the grace of God. (Council of Trent, Session VI, Chapter 5.)

There is an imperative on the part of the soul to turn toward those works so as to be able to see them. Such a turning or coming is initiated by the grace of God and culminates in the illumination of Baptism in which the charity of God is poured into the soul by the Holy Ghost (cf. Romans 5:5). St. Justin explains why the sacrament of Baptism was given in respect to this illumination:

Since at our birth we were born without our own knowledge or choice, by our parents coming together, and were brought up in bad habits and wicked training; in order that we may not remain the children of necessity and of ignorance, but may become the children of choice and knowledge, and may obtain in the water the remission of sins formerly committed, there is pronounced over him who chooses to be born again, and has repented of his sins, the name of God the Father and Lord of the universe; he who leads to the laver the person that is to be washed calling him by this name alone. For no one can utter the name of the ineffable God; and if any one dare to say that there is a name, he raves with a hopeless madness. And this washing is called illumination, because they who learn these things are illuminated in their understandings. And in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Ghost, who through the prophets foretold all things about Jesus, he who is illuminated is washed. (St. Justin Martyr, First Apology, Chapter 61.)

Coming and seeing is thus not simply a matter of intellectually apprehending or understanding a truth, but rather responding to the movement of God’s grace to repentance unto Baptism wherein we are enlightened so as to be able to see the works of God, of which the renovation of the soul is paramount, as it is the cause of our Lord’s Passion and Death and Resurrection:

That we may be unto the praise of his glory, we who before hoped Christ: In whom you also, after you had heard the word of truth, (the gospel of your salvation;) in whom also believing, you were signed with the holy Spirit of promise, Who is the pledge of our inheritance, unto the redemption of acquisition, unto the praise of his glory. Wherefore I also, hearing of your faith that is in the Lord Jesus, and of your love towards all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making commemoration of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation, in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know what the hope is of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us, who believe according to the operation of the might of his power, which he wrought in Christ, raising him up from the dead, and setting him on his right hand in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 1:12-20 DR)

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I found this nice image of a sunflower and applied some wiggle hold animation to the position and rotation. I then applied some various glitch effects, added in the text and some color correction.

Enjoy.

View a higher quality version of this gif here: