Wooden Beams

The Gospel today advises that we get rid of the wooden beam in our own eye before we try to pick out the splinter in our brother's eye. We should not first focus on other people's sins but upon our own. However, someone needs to point out to us the wooden beam in our own eye. Often, the only person who can reveal to us our own sins is Jesus or another human being if we are humble enough to listen.
              As we enter into the desert of Lent this Ash Wednesday, we should remember that God is not asking us to enter into the desert alone. We should enter into Lent with God. In Lent, we should ask God: "What is the 'wooden beam' in my own eye that I cannot see?" "What is the big sin that I am blind to?" However, if we do not have a relationship with Jesus, we will remain blind to the 'wooden beam' in our own eye. Not only do we need Jesus to save us, we need Jesus to reveal to us our sins so that we can know what we need to be saved from. Without Jesus, we stumble through life blind.
If we take the time to cultivate a relationship with Jesus, we will start to see the sins that we used to overlook. However, if we do this without a real relationship with Jesus, we become a neurotic and scrupulous people, like Ned Flanders from the Simpsons, who is always anxious about upsetting God. Instead, as Jesus tells us in the Gospel today, "when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher." If we invite Jesus to train us in the desert of Lent, we will bear good fruit in Easter, because we will become more than mere parishioners - we will become His disciples and will become like Him.
 
God Bless,
Fr. Scott