The Gospel is challenging because everyone is a flawed individual. How do we judge others and how do we judge ourselves? There is a story about the Patron Saint of parish priests, St John Mary Vianney. He was sent to an obscure village called Ars and he got lost whilst travelling there. Apparently, he asked a young shepherd for directions and supposedly he said, “Young man, can you point me out to where Ars is and I will point you in the direction heaven”. The young boy, Antoine Givre did point the way to Ars and today his statue stands at the entrance to the village. However, according to another retelling, the young man’s response was rather cynical, “You cannot even find your way to Ars and you want to point me the way to heaven”?
The point being that how can we expect a blind to lead another blind. If we are to get away from our blindness, perhaps there may be two areas which we ought to look into. They are firstly, self-awareness and secondly, authenticity.
By and large we have forgotten sin or the reality that there is sin. A “sinless world” or rather, a “sin-insensitive” or “sin-indifferent” world is not a better one. It is a ruthless and a dangerous one. We aim to be colour-blind or race-blind or religion-blind but the result is that we have simply become “sin-blind”. But it is a weird kind of blindness. The explosive prevalence of electronic devices is indeed a blessing for so many of us. Parents find them such a great help to raising children. Let them watch You-Tube whilst eating. It is painless. We do not need to carry heavy books because everything can be downloaded. All our pictures are safely stored and readily available at the touch of a finger. When it is dark, we rely on the torch on our phone. Best of all, we can attend Mass online or read the Gospel on our devices. At the same time, tell me that you have never received unsavoury contents on you social media and even if you are not into them, you may have inadvertently watched them through the same device without thinking twice. So, one minute soft-porn and the next minute the same device is used for praying the Divine Office. The frightening truth is that nobody seems to feel that there is anything wrong with that. Perhaps you appreciate why I do not allow the Readings or the Gospel to be read or proclaim from an electronic device because we do not know where the screen has been to.
Of course, we are sin-blind when it comes to ourselves but we are not blind to sin in others. In fact, our eyes easily spot and note weaknesses in others. If you were part of an organisation, you might be familiar with this illustration. The boss points out the short-comings of some employees and in your head, you would be searching for a name to pin the sin on.
There is a joke about the Jesuits, the Dominicans and the Franciscans. According to the legend, St Ignatius said “Let the Dominicans be famous for their intellectual learning. Let the Franciscans be known for their poverty. But let the Jesuits be known for their humility”. So, when one of the Regional Superiors spoke of disobedient Jesuits, I was young once upon a time and immediately in my head, I would have worked out the names and faces of Jesuits whom I deemed to be examples of disobedience. Now in my waning years, I look at myself and feel the awkward shame that I had failed to see myself as an example of disobedience.
We have been taught not to be judgemental, right? The truth is, when we are sin-blind, meaning that we no longer see sin, then, the result can only be that there is really no standard at all. There is nothing to “measure up to” but the very fact that we dare to “judge” others, which if you reflect on it, actually points us to the reality that there are standards that we should live up to. Objectively, we can judge if a person has fallen short in his or her behaviour. But subjectively, this is where authenticity and credibility come in.
Authenticity does not mean we never judge. Authenticity just means that we must become what we proclaim. The truth remains that there will always be a gap between our belief and our behaviour. That gap is called sin. We will and we frequently fall short in our behaviour. To be credible, each one of us must take responsibility for his or her actions or failures to act according to our beliefs.
St Paul in the 2nd Reading reminds us of sin and its reality. As we are about to enter into Lent with its penitential focus, we might want to take time to reflect and examine our conscience. This is why the Sacrament of Confession is so important in the lives of Catholics. The more we desire to receive Holy Communion, the more we should want to go for Confession too.
These two Sacraments go hand in hand. The fact that few frequent the Sacrament of Confession, is not only revealing but possibly, it is proof of our sin-blindness. Lent has not begun but it is never too early to start our penitential pilgrimage with a resolution to go for Confession.
