In the Gospel today, Jesus points out two things that are necessary for us to live a Christian life. We must have the ability to recognize our own weaknesses and failings, to “see the log in our own eyes,” as well as a proper interior disposition, since “the good man draws what is good from the store of goodness in his heart.”
Something that has been recurring in my own prayer recently has been the need for true humility, to ensure that my good works are coming from a place of real charity. As we progress in the spiritual life it can be very tempting to take the lessons from Sirach and St. Paul’s letter to heart without heeding Jesus’ message in the Gospel. It is true that the test of a man is his words since they do provide insight into the heart, and it is true that our work in the Lord cannot be in vain, but we need to make sure the fruit we produce is actually good. We can become so fixated on our words, both in prayer and to one another, and become so wrapped up in our works that we forget the underlying purpose to them.
Last week St. James reminded us that we should speak to bless and praise God, so our words should be leading us to Him. Since a man’s words “betray what he feels” we need to ensure that they are coming from a place of goodness, and are not empty, self-serving platitudes. If we blindly recite prayers and say all the right things for social approval then we are just going to cause others to fall with us. Our prayers should arise out of love for God and strive to deepen that love, and our words to one another should help others develop that same relationship with God.
Likewise, as we must never grow weary of doing what is right, we must remember that no rotten tree produces sound fruit, that is, no work that is done out of pride or for selfish reasons can be wholly good. Real charity is not done so that we can be seen, but rather out of genuine love for another. How do we live this real charity? I would say Jesus told us the means last week: to pray for our enemies, to give our tunic as well as our cloak, to lend without expecting repayment. How those ways might take form in our lives is cause for reflection.
So while we should be taking the obvious sins that blind us out of our lives it’s important to remember that the worst sins we grapple with aren’t usually carnal sins, but rather sins of pride, vainglory, envy, and the like. To tackle them we need to recognize them as the biggest logs in our eyes and store up goodness in our hearts.
Daniel Salé – St. Joseph Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta