In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus challenges us to remove the wooden beam from our own eyes first so that we may see clearly, and only then are we able to even consider removing a splinter from our brother’s eye. Did you know your pastor is literally almost blind in one eye? I have a rapid growing cataract in my right eye. I went in the past year from perfect vision in my right eye (with the correction of contact lenses) to vision so blurry even with correction I can just barely make out even with contacts/glasses the biggest letter “E" only on a vision chart (which is the threshold of being considered “legally blind”). Thanks be to God my left eye is still good! The funny thing is that this Gospel on blindness and splinters in eyes pops up this weekend and literally tomorrow, Monday, I have eye surgery to remove that cataract! What is God telling me? Can a blind person lead a blind person?
The hardest thing to see clearly is ourselves. We often do miss the “beams” in our own eyes, whereas we think we see “splinters” in everyone else’s. It is always the right spiritual move to look at ourselves first. To ask God for vision to see ourselves, our souls, our character, our flaws. To beg the Holy Spirit for clarity. When we do see our flaws, then we need to work on them with the help of God’s grace. We often try to change and fix the world and other people, while we ignore ourselves. Yet, the only thing we really can change is ourselves.
Fortunately for us, Lent begins this Wednesday, March 2. Talk about a good season to take a good look at ourselves, our sins, and our flaws, and try to work on them! We have three great tools to help us: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. All three of these can really help us see ourselves better. In prayer we see God, we see what God is calling us to do, we see what God reveals to us about ourselves. In fasting, we see what we are really attached to, the things we are tempted to love more than God. In almsgiving, we see other people, their needs, their suffering, and often we walk away seeing our own lives much differently and often how very blessed we are!
Lent is training season! Jesus says also in our Sunday Gospel, “No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.” Training and discipline are difficult, but oh so worth it in the end. Let’s pray for vision to see what we need to do this Lent. Don’t just pick the same old same old thing to give up, but really pray and discern what God is calling you to do, what might make a real difference in our lives! I hope and pray we all have a great Lent!
Peace,
Fr. Greg