See Clearly

June 25, 2012

Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

And though the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and seer,  "Give up your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes, in accordance with the entire law which I enjoined on your fathers and which I sent you by my servants the prophets,"  they did not listen, but were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who had not believed in the LORD, their God.  They rejected his statutes the covenant which he had made with their fathers, and the warnings which he had given them, till, in his great anger against Israel, the LORD put them away out of his sight.  2 Kings 17:13-15a

Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove that splinter from your eye,' while the wooden beam is in your eye?  You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye."  Matthew 7:3-6

Piety

Father, help me once again to remove the wooden beams that get in the way of me seeing you more clearly, loving you more dearly and following you more nearly every day, every step and every mile along the way.

Study

Images of wood bring me back to the role that wood played in the life of Jesus.  Joseph was a carpenter so Jesus probably learned some of this craft from an early age.  Wood was likely the material used to construct the feeding bin in which Jesus was born.  All of the splinters in our eyes were borne by Jesus climbing the hill to his execution until he was nailed to the beam of our blindness.

Action

What is your wooden beam?  What is the obstacle that impedes you from seeing clearly the role that the Lord asks of you?

In a recent homily, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton gave a hint at how we can remove that wooden beam from our own eyes.  His idea does not require heavy lifting, just a little attitude adjustment.  He said that “we sometimes carry with us [an attitude] that we can do it all. Sometimes we even use violence to try and do it. That's not the way of Jesus. We have to be patient and let God work through us to bring about the change that will make the Reign of God happen. So if we…try to follow patiently, waiting, but working together with Jesus, we can transform our world into the Reign of God.

So, let’s not be stubborn and stiff-necked people but be flexible to the ways of the Lord over the ways of our own egos so that we may walk in His footsteps.