Almighty God, Creator and Guide, look upon Your people in their
times of need, to offer us help in living in Your loving righteousness, by
making Your will our own. Amen.
Reflection
I’m sure there are lots of things the blind do very well, but I
don’t want a blind person driving my car or giving me directions. That would be a dangerous and futile
situation. The blind leading the blind
are not going to get there. Of course,
the blindness Jesus talks about is figurative rather than literal, but that
sharpens rather than blunts what He is saying, as the blind He is referring to
are “in denial” and don’t realize their blindness. (Luke 6:39-42)
St. Paul says he used to be ignorant, but then he learned about
the Lord and now he is a minister.
Before, he didn’t know. He too
was willfully blind, as his Damascus road conversion makes clear. It was not that he couldn’t but that he
wouldn’t see the situation, but now he has learned so much he is a minister and
able to help others understand the Lord, see the Lord. (1Timothy 1:1-2, 12-14)
The worst kind of blindness, which is almost incurable, is the
judgmental spirit. Moreover, judgmental
people tend to mix only with their own kind, reinforcing each other’s
prejudices, hence Jesus’ warning that both will end up in the pit. Jesus was particularly scathing about
judgmental spirit because it elevates admittedly good concepts like rules,
principles, and standards – even religion—above the actual plight of human
beings.
When we encounter what appears to be prejudice, it is not up to
us to remove the speck of sawdust from the eye by judging whether that person
cannot or will not see. If we do pride ourselves on confronting bigotry, it is
almost certain that there’s an even bigger log in our own eye, and we’re headed
for the pit, too! Those in the biggest danger of the trip to the pit are those
people who are constantly trying to fix others’ faults, trying to remedy
others’ blindness, when they themselves cannot see clearly. Trying to take a speck from someone else’s
eye is not appropriate or feasible until the log is removed from your own eye.
Let our prayer be that our own blindness be cured. Then, like
Paul, God might be able to use us to help others.
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