Luke 6:39-45
Thomas Merton said, “Nothing is more suspicious in a man who seems holy than an impatient desire to reform other men.” Jesus says a lot of things today and it’s hard to find a unifying theme. When he talks about splinters and wooden beams, is he telling us to mind our own business? Is that an excuse for ignoring things about another person that could certainly stand some correcting? When he talks about good trees bearing good fruit and not harvesting grapes from thorn bushes, what does that have to do with me? It seems like an elaborate and long-winded way of saying you can’t give what you don’t have. And have you ever had a friend who spent a lot of time pointing out your faults? If you ever did, you probably don’t anymore, unless he or she is a close relative and you can’t get away.
In the early days of the Church, there was a widespread belief that the end of the world was right around the corner and Jesus would be coming very soon to start the last judgement. You can even see how this belief influenced some of the early Christian communities. In the acts of the apostles it records the fact that many Christians liquidated their possessions and turned the proceeds over to the apostles, who then used the money to see that everyone was fed and clothed. Nobody worried about the day after tomorrow. And in second Thessalonians we meet busybodies who spend all their time criticizing others and offering their advice, and Paul ultimately says that if someone isn’t working, then he should be eating either.
But on the other hand we meet great saints who gained their sainthood by being effective spiritual directors. Saint Francis de Sales, Saint Pio of Petronella, Saint John Vianny, and of course many others spent their lives trying to help other people become holy. So when we read this gospel and think about things, should we be helping each other or should we keep quiet and mind our own business?
One of the beatitudes of Jesus was “Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God”. What is purity of heart? I don’t think we are born with it. Little kids, cute as they are and fun to listen to, are pretty self-centered. The smart ones quickly learn how to manipulate adults to get what they want. But purity of heart means that we live to understand what God wants of us and make it our top priority to do this. And it requires grace, it doesn't just happen. A lot of modern Christians don’t believe in Satan anymore. But I think those people who are trying to achieve purity of heart are the main targets of Sathan. He doesn’t have to worry about people who put pleasing God low on their priority list. Sooner or later the world or the flesh will do his work for them.
There is a psalm that has the lines “Create in me a pure heart, O God; and renew a steadfast spirit in me.” The writer recognizes that having a pure heart requires God’s help as well as persistence. It requires two virtues, honesty and humility.
Honesty means that I have a clear idea of my relationship to God. I know my faults, I know my blind spots, I know the things that keep me from growing in my spiritual life. If I don’t know these things, perhaps I should seek spiritual direction, so that I can be helped. After all, if I’m not honest with myself, I won’t make any progress.
The second virtue is humility. Humility is the recognition that I can’t do it on my own. If I want a pure heart, if I want to see God, I will certainly need all the help I can get. That’s where the examples of the saints can teach us. John Vianney, the Cure of Ars, would spend his days hearing confessions and according to his biographers, his nights in prayer -- during which he was subjected to temptation by the devil. Humility means you are a person of prayer.
If we work on those virtues, by ourselves or with help, purity of heart will follow, and God will answer our prayer to create a pure heart within us. And once that pure heart exists, He will remove the beam from our eyes and allow us to remove the splinter from our brother’s eye. And because we have become good trees we will bear good fruit.
We are about to enter that great penitential season, Lent. It’s interesting how Muslims celebrate their Lent, which they call Ramadan. No food or drink while the sun is up. I had several Muslim doctors in our training program at Baystate when I was in practice. Because they fasted, they never forgot that they were trying to grow closer to God and purify their hearts. Over at Saint Mark’s Armenian church, the congregation does something similar--- during lent they become vegetarian. A long time ago we Catholics fasted every day during Lent except Sunday. It wasn’t a terribly hard fast -- One full meal, and you could eat two small meals in addition provided they did not equal a full meal. You were reminded every day that you were supposed to be purifying your heart with God’s help. What are you doing for Lent? How are you practicing honesty and humility so that you can bring a pure heart to Jesus, so that you can see God? This may be the last Lent for some of us. Let us use it to grow spiritually.