In My Blindness, I Can See Reflection by Ann Penick In today’s reading from Sirach, Jewish sage Ben Sira is writing in Jerusalem more than 100 years before Jesus’s birth. In the gospel, Jesus is speaking in Galilee. But the two readings touch upon a single truth: our actions reveal our attitudes. In the passage from 1 Corinthians, Paul addresses many of the challenges in Corinth that are having a direct impact on the Christian community. Frustrated and disappointed, Paul urgently and relentlessly stresses to the Corinthian community that discipleship requires a radical conversion, a change of mind and heart. Not just talking the talk but walking the walk! Sirach teaches that the manner of our speech reveals our character. The examples of shaking the sieve, molding the clay into a vessel, and tending the tree until it bears fruit suggest that we are called not only to react to what happens but also to proactively shape the world around us. As we get to know our neighbors and colleagues through their words and actions (and they us), we eventually reveal our faults and prejudices as well as our virtues and gifts. Scripture says the quality of a tree’s fruit indicates the care it has received. So too, we create the reality of our lives by the care we take to tend the gifts we have been given. Both Sirach and Luke urge us to make reasonable speech a habit. But there is an additional step: they also ask us to look inward, to examine our hearts and fill them with what God desires. In that way, these writers are not so much worried about what we say as they are concerned about what “what we say” says about us! What do the words we have used even in the last 24 hours says about our own commitment to mercy, peace, and compassion? Especially as the Spirit uses these readings to guide us toward a more compassionate approach to our fellow humans. Consider this: If I am trying to take a photo of a tree with my phone, and there is a speck of wood stuck on the camera lens, how much would that block the image I intended to capture? Consider further: What if a tree branch suddenly hung down in front of my phone’s camera, how much would that block my intended image? Which photo would be better: the one marred by a speck of wood, or the one distorted by an entire branch? Usually, we judge the smaller defect as preferable to the greater one. But Jesus doesn’t seem to follow that kind of logic, instead Jesus insists that we speak out of the abundance of our hearts. He tells us to stop complaining about the “splinter” in someone else’s eye, especially since we have a “beam” in our own. But notice two things: First, Jesus calls both people “blind.” We wouldn’t say a splinter and a beam are the same thing, but Jesus seems say they have the same result: blindness. And as in most of Jesus’ parables, physical traits point toward an internal reality. Here, Jesus admonishes us: we can be particularly prone to offering unnecessary, ill-conceived advice. It can feel so clear to us what needs to happen in someone else’s life that it’s hard not to tell them. But when it comes to our own lives, we are not nearly so clear-sighted or courageous. Indeed, at times we can judge others under the guise of helping them. But if we help from a place of superiority, Jesus notes that we are blind. If I consider myself different or better than another, Jesus suggests that I truly cannot see. This brings us to the second topsy-turvy thing that Jesus says in today’s gospel. When Jesus instructs the disciples to get rid of the beam in their own eyes, it is not so they can see other people more clearly, but rather so they can see their own faults with greater accuracy. Only then, when they see clearly, can the disciples correct their own behaviors and attitudes. This also applies to us. Before we attempt to help others, we must recognize and begin to address our own shortcomings. Our actions must be grounded in our solidarity with our neighbors, not our judgment of them; only then does Jesus suggest we can truly act for their good. We will be known by what we produce – not just once or twice, but day after day, month after month, season after season, year after year. If we are acting out of superiority, Jesus says this will not bear loving results, good fruit, for the world. Having said all of this, if you judge yourself harshly in the light of today’s gospel, remember, we have Jesus’ mercy, unending patience, and grace. God is the One who sees the true big picture—for everyone! God holds ALL of us including the people we understand least. We are called to be patient with ourselves as well! When we allow ourselves to experience God’s loving mercy, then we can truly love the people around us. We can treat them with the same merciful, loving approach with which God has treated us. Rev. Jim Keenan, SJ describes this as “a willingness to enter into the chaos of another’s life.” We begin by asking God to show us our own blindness. Too often, both personally and institutionally, we act from the fortress of our blindness as opposed to the vulnerability of our seeing. Still, Love calls us. Through our professions, our ministries, our homes, classrooms, parishes, dioceses, archdioceses, and DignityUSA; through words, presence, actions, policies, lament, systemic change, and rituals. Love calls us – the entire People of God. Part of this call is the openness to pruning, uprooting, planting. At EVERY level the Spirit wants to transform us and our world. This gospel invites us to own what we do, own what we say, and own the consequences. Pointing to the faults of others does not excuse or erase the effects of our own wrongdoing and foolhardiness. We must face the facts and correct our own faults. We are called to respect and love each other, to deal with one another with care and support. We are called to be people of integrity. Our actions express the commitments of our heart and ought never hide our real intentions. At a time when there seems to be a flood of ugly words in our public discourse and when condemnations and accusations fill social media and the airwaves, these Scriptures challenge us to consider our speech carefully and to show mutual respect for others who, like us, struggle with a lack of seeing. What “splinters” (faults, failings, wrongdoing of other) bother me? What are the “beams” (your faults, failings, wrongdoing) I struggle with? How can what I do be a reliable indicator of my best self? How will I be able to offer mercy and love to those whom I find difficult? For if I cannot do that – show caring beyond those who care for me – then Jesus reminds me that I remain blind indeed.
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