REMOVE THE WOODEN BEAM FROM YOUR EYE FIRST

2Kings 17,5-8.13-15a.18; Ps 59; Mt 7,1-5
25 JUNE
Correcting the brother so that he does not offend his God and Lord and also so that he walks from truth to truth and from light to light, is more than necessary. But what rule does Jesus give us today for an effective, just and holy correction? The way offered to us by Jesus is our perfect example. The correction of the other is above all our life. The other, observing us, knows that he does not live in the Gospel, in the Word, in the truth and in the light. The way indicated by Christ the Lord is thus pointed out to Christians by the Apostle Paul.

We cause no one to stumble in anything, in order that no fault may be found with our ministry; on the contrary, in everything we commend ourselves as ministers of God, through much endurance, in afflictions, hardships, constraints, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, vigils, fasts; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, in a holy spirit, in unfeigned love, in truthful speech, in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness at the right and at the left; through glory and dishonour, insult and praise. We are treated as deceivers and yet are truthful; as unrecognized and yet acknowledged; as dying and behold we live; as chastised and yet not put to death; as sorrowful yet always rejoicing; as poor yet enriching many; as having nothing and yet possessing all things (2Cor 6,3-10). So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work. Do everything without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world, as you hold on to the word of life, so that my boast for the day of Christ may be that I did not run in vain or labour in vain. But, even if I am poured out as a libation upon the sacrificial service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with all of you. In the same way you also should rejoice and share your joy with me (Phil 2,12-18).

If the Christian grows in exemplarity, which is a full imitation of Christ the Lord, he also grows in the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is in the heart with the power of his gifts, he is also on the lips and becomes a word of consolation, comfort, hope, peace and even correction. Only the Spirit knows how to speak to a heart. Only He knows moments and modalities for an effective intervention. Who is in the Spirit knows when to be silent and when to speak. Whoever is not in the Spirit speaks when he should be silent and keeps silent when he should speak. Whether he is silent or talking, he is silent and speaks inappropriately, with silences and words that disturb the heart and create havoc in his soul. The effective Word of our correction must always be uttered by the Spirit of God through us. But for this to always happen, it is necessary for us to grow in Him so that every word of ours on our lips is a Word that comes from his heart. This is the only word capable of correcting a person: the Word drawn into the heart by the Spirit and made to reach the ear by the human voice. The other does not hear the voice of man. He listens and hears only the Word of his God and Lord. It is his salvation.

“Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.

This rule applies to every member of the body of Christ Jesus. Those who want to correct effectively must always dwell in the Holy Spirit, making of his heart their own home. You dwell in the heart of the Spirit, take the words of the Spirit and refer them to the hearts. The other will recognize the word of the Spirit and if he wishes he can get converted, he can return to the Gospel. He can leave the kingdom of darkness and enter that of light.

Mirror of every virtue, Angels and Saints, fill us with the Holy Spirit and his wisdom.