I’ve got something in my eye

Call it a log or a wooden beam or whatever: I am not perfect, I am a sinner, and I am struggling to free myself of this with God’s grace.

Today’s Gospel is a familiar one and we need to take it to heart. We need to ask ourselves continually: am I fair to others? am I generous? am I overlooking my own faults, my own biases, and my own sins?

Also familiar is the way this Gospel is sometimes misused: to silence any who would dare say what is morally right and what is morally wrong.

On the contrary, we cannot be silent. We dare not be silent. We have a solemn and deadly obligation to speak out. Both the Old and the New Testaments are very clear about this, perhaps nowhere as powerfully as in the book of the prophet Ezekiel:

"Son of man,
I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel;
whenever you hear a word from my mouth,
you shall give them warning from me.
If I say to the wicked, `You shall surely die,'
and you give him no warning,
nor speak
to dissuade him from his wicked way and save his life,
that wicked man shall die for his sin;
but I will hold you responsible for his death."
Ezekiel 3:17-18

None of us here on this earth are perfect, but we are all called to be perfect, and we as Christians most especially are called not just to focus on ourselves but, mindful of our own unworthiness and relying on God’s grace, do what we can to help all God’s children on the road to the perfection to which we all strive.