Remove the wooden beam from your eye first
23 JUNE (Mt 7,1-5)
Fraternal correction is a must for every Christian. However, it must always be made from the highest charity, mercy, pity, compassion and forgiveness. For this reason, it is necessary that the one who intends and wants to help his brothers, is first of all, free from every imperfection, every sin and every transgression both large and small. Fraternal correction is made exclusively from holiness.
Whoever does not walk towards holiness, who does not experience the hard path that leads us toward moral and spiritual perfection, will easily fall into the sin of judgment and condemnation. He will rise to the inflexible judge of his brothers. He will be merciless. The hard and petrified heart of a man always brings him to judgment and punishment. While a heart of flesh, filled with the Holy Spirit, will drive him to the great mercy, understanding, compassion and immense mercy.
Therefore, fraternal correction must be made from a new heart. This is an evangelical obligation that must always be observed. This requires that every Christian walks ardently towards the creation of this heart of flesh in him, which is the exclusive fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is not in the power of a man to make himself a new heart. The Father has given this work to his Holy Spirit. But the Spirit of the Lord does not come by himself. He is brought by the Christian. So that, every day the Christian must be the saviour of the Christian. First, by the Christian and then by every other man. First, saviour of his body and then of those who still are not his body so that they soon become it. It is not easy to get into this perfect spiritual vision.
When we walk with the heart of stone, we instantly cease to be the saviors of our brothers. Fraternal correction is also no longer for salvation. Never might it be, because the Holy Spirit is wanting in us, the only one that can enter into the brother’s chest, remove the heart of stone and in its place put a heart of flesh. Without the power of the Holy Spirit in us, the other person will remain perpetually in his sin, because our word is from our flesh, not from the Holy Spirit. Every word that comes from the flesh, stops at the flesh. It does not get into the spirit , because the Holy Spirit is absent, the only one that can speak to the spirit, heart and soul.
“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.
Since only the Holy Spirit can speak to the spirit and soul of the brothers, it is necessary that we are all filled with the Holy Spirit, we are filled with him. For this reason, every day we must let Him be strengthened in us, increase his divine potential of conversion, become more and more shining light so that we always talk as light to others and never as flesh. The fleshly wisdom is diabolical. The heavenly wisdom is always healthy. It always produces a great work of salvation.
Only the Spirit of the Lord knows how to talk to a heart, how to enter a soul. Removing the plank from our own eye, means removing the heart of stone from our chest. How is this possible? Through a true journey of spiritual ascent. One does a strong fight against any defect, imperfection and even slight transgression of the commandments. He sets on the path of the Beatitudes. He grows in faith, hope and charity. He makes of praying a perpetual state of soul and spirit. By acting in this way, little by little, the Spirit of the Lord takes the total government of our lives and we will always act in accordance with heavenly wisdom and no longer according to fleshly wisdom. When this happens we will be ready to remove the speck of others.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us walk in the virtues.