Homily for Friday of the 23rd Week in Ordinary Time

Our limited insight into what makes others tick makes it precarious for us to make judgments about others. It can be tempting to think that we see such things clearly while others are blind to the truth of these things. Jesus seems to indicate that we are all blind to some degree and that it is often a case of the blind leading the blind, rather than the enlightened leading the blind.

Changing the metaphor somewhat, Jesus gives us the comical image of someone trying to take a splinter out of someone else’s eye while being unaware of the wooden beam in their own eye. Taking the wooden beam out of our own eye means being more intent on tending to our own failings than to those of others. Often, we do not see clearly enough to understand what is really going on in another person, and, therefore, we need to be slow to judge and to condemn. God, who sees clearly into every heart, is compassionate and merciful to all, even the unworthy. We are asked to try to be merciful and compassionate like that. +