“Where did you see Jesus today?”

It’s an end of the day question I’ve started asking friends and family.

Was it in a patient store clerk? A generous friend? A caring stranger? It’s harder to find Jesus when we’re not looking for him.

About 15 years ago a fun experiment was designed related to this – if you have two minutes go ahead and take it here then continue reading. It’s worth it.

The study asked participants to count the number of times a basketball was being passed around between a group of people. While study participants were busy counting the passes, a man in a gorilla suit passed through the group. While nearly all the study participants were able to correctly tally the number of times the basketball was passed, about half of them did not notice the man in the gorilla suit walk through the setting (I didn’t).

This exercise in selective attention reminds us that we can be blind to obvious things when we become too focused on other things.

In Sunday’s Gospel we’ll meet a man who suffered from this selective attention, to his detriment, and was unable to recognize God in his midst.

This is why I have a habit of asking myself and others where they saw Jesus today.

After all, finding him is much easier when we’re looking for him.

Where did you see Jesus today?