Today’s reflection from the daily Mass explores what it means to get our own house in order with a little help along the way!
Readings for today can be found here
The sacrament of reconciliation (or confession as it is popularly known) is often feared by some. The idea of identifying your sins in the presence of another is often too much to take. Perhaps there is a sense of embarrassment or the fear of being judged or viewed differently by the priest. Perhaps, one of the most helpful and profound parts of the rite are the final words said by the priest after absolution and a blessing have been given. “Go in peace, and pray for me a sinner too.” Every priest who hears confessions is themself a penitent, someone who sins and needs reconciliation. The parting words are both a comfort and an acknowledgment, that sin is something common to every human soul.
In the gospel reading, Jesus warms us against judging others without acknowledging that we too can be judged. We can easily point out the sins of others and forget about our own propensity to sin. There is a sense in which he is telling us to get our own house in order before we try to help others with ordering theirs. Perhaps there is something of that safety announcements on aeroplanes, to place our oxygen masks on first, before we help others with theirs.
Jesus, of course, expresses it in a very different way. “How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye”, when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.’
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