Jesus told his disciples a parable:
“Can a blind person guide a blind person?
Will not both fall into a pit?
No disciple is superior to the teacher;
but when fully trained,
every disciple will be like his teacher.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye,
but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?
How can you say to your brother,
‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’
when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye?
You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first;
then you will see clearly
to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.” (Lk 6:39-42)
There are some people who are very expert at pointing out the faults of others. They are so good at it that they let everyone else know what is wrong with them. However, they refuse to turn that same critical eye inward. They go so far as to say that they have no faults, that anything that might be perceived as a fault by others is actually a problem with someone else.
As Jesus would say, “You hypocrite!”
How can we point out the faults of everyone else and ignore our own faults?!
Perhaps the fault that we perceive in another person does not actually reside in them. Perhaps the fault that we are attempting to identify resides in ourselves.
It is painful to think that we might have problems. However, if we do not accept those problems and deal with them, we are going to be a hindrance to ourselves and others in any kind of spiritual journey. If we do not do anything to correct our problems, we can remain spiritually blind and, in the process, lose sight of the way to the Kingdom.
We need to allow God to point out the areas in our lives that need to change.
We are most amenable to that when we take care of our spiritual life. One of the aspects of that spiritual life is making use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. When we are truly honest with ourselves, we admit our faults. When we admit our faults, we admit the sin that comes about because of our faults. When we admit our sin, we can then be open to God’s healing forgiveness.
FAITH ACTION: Ask God to give you the humility to look at what you need to change and/or improve.