Petition: Grant, Lord, that I may not only come to know the bad things in me, so I may reject them, but also the good things in me, so I may thank you for them.

 

Gospel Passage: Luke 6:39-45

 

He also told them a parable: Can a blind man guide a blind man? Will not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher. Why do you see the speck in your neighbors eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye, when you yourself do not see 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 neighbors eye. No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.

 

Introductory Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, to see clearly I need to recognize the log in my own eye. To do this, I need to be enlightened by you, and I need your grace to be sincere. I humbly ask you to give me the grace of self-knowledge so that by knowing myself I may be more able to conquer myself for you. Then, when I am filled with your light, may I reflect your light to others.

 

1. A Sincere and Merciless Self Examination 

 

Man is the only being on earth capable of examining himself, taking a step back to look at himself. Rocks, flowers and animals cannot do this. This makes man superior to animals, but if he does not use it to improve himself he can be exposed to many disorders and problems. When he refuses to use this human prerogative of examining himself and his acts man slips down to the level of an animal.

 

Many times other people know our faults and weaknesses while we do not see them, for we find it easy to turn a blind eye towards our own actions. Often we know the faults of our neighbor and easily see through his masks while being blind to our own. It stings to have blame directed towards ourselves, even when we secretly suspect it is well founded. Yes, it takes courage to see the log in our own eye.

 

It is very profitable to know our dominant fault or passion, that tendency we have that affects many of our bad actions. Is it arrogance, pride, vanity, laziness, sensuality, materialism or anger? If we could name the tendency and which of these root sins it is that bothers me the most, we would go far in self-knowledge.

 

This is not easy to do because our self-love does not tolerate humiliation; it takes drastic sincerity with God, ourselves and with others to own up to our faults. Its difficult but necessary. Christ wants us to do this so we may fill our lives and hearts with his light. Once filled with his light, then you will see clearly, as our Lord tells us. This is why we need confession and a good spiritual director we trust, to whom we can open ourselves and speak about our faults. Christ knows that it costs us to humiliate ourselves, which is why he first humiliated himself for us, dying for our sins, and taking our sins upon himself, though he was sinless and all-holy. By contemplating Christ often, his Love will move us to humiliate ourselves too out of love. 

 

2. Christian Self-Knowledge Inspires Confidence, Joy and Peace.

 

If someone needs to set his watch at the right time, he needs to find a good watch to compare it to. Christ is like that other good watch. He gives us the perfect image of how we should be. To do a self-examination without Christ would be little more than psycho-analysis or would merely cause discouragement.

 

Self-knowledge is never discouraging for someone who knows the power of God. Like a patient who is not afraid of exposing his sickness to a doctor, because he knows that by doing so the doctor can heal him, we too should never be afraid to expose ourselves to the one who is the divine physician, our Savior and Redeemer! For a Christian, self-examination is digging a foundation. The deeper the foundation, the more superbly the building will stand; the greater the humility of a soul, the greater the exaltation of that soul when God touches him. (Fulton J. Sheen)

 

Self-knowledge offers many advantages to the one who knows how to recognize God. He no longer feels alone or isolated. He no longer needs to find excuses to defend his egotism, which, in the end, is indefensible. He no longer fears being recognized for who he is. He has a peace inside which comes from a deep knowledge of why he lives and where his life is going. He is at peace with himself since he knows he is sincere and coherent. His joy rests on his relationship with God and not in exterior things. He is so rooted in God that he becomes like the ocean, calm and serene in its depths, regardless of the fury of the waves at the surface.

 

3. The log in your own eye

 

Christ has clearly told us that we need to discover the log that is in our own eye. What do we do after we have discovered it? Is it possible to take it out as soon as we have found it? No. In fact, it is a battle that lasts a lifetime. For some mysterious reason Christ has permitted us to be left with these tendencies to pride, sensuality, egotism, etc. He could have freed us from them when he redeemed us, but he didnt. Why? The reason may be that he wants us to learn humility, the hardest virtue to acquire.

 

We must resolve to accept our reality, to trust in God and go forward. We must never be surprised at our faults and, especially, never be discouraged by them. To do this, we must never become focused exclusively on our own sins. We need to look instead to the mercy of God and the grace that Christ has won for us, for God brings good out of evil. Like a farmer that uses manure to make his fields fruitful, so God can use our very faults to produce in our souls fruits of virtue and goodness. We can see this throughout salvation history as well: the liturgy of the Easter Vigil Mass, in the Exultet, speaks of this when it declares, O happy fault that merited for us such a Redeemer!

 

God wants to use everything for our advantage, even our own imperfections and falls. Through our imperfections we learn humility, increasing our dependence on God and a healthy distrust in our own strength.

 

Conversation: Lord Jesus, may I know myself, may I know you, and may I desire nothing else but you! May I hate myself; may I love you and do all things for you! May I humble myself, may I glorify you, and may I have no other thoughts than You! May I flee myself and find refuge only in you, and so merit to be defended only by You. (St. Augustine)

 

Questionnaire:

 

1.  How and how often do I examine my conscience to gain a greater self-knowledge, an indispensable virtue, which allows me to grow in other virtues, too? When and how often do I ask the Lord for the grace to enlighten me, and to show me his will for my daily life?

 

2.  What do I believe to be my dominant fault or root sin that keeps me from fulfilling Gods will with the perfection Christ is asking from a true Christian?

 

3.  What do I learn from my own sins and imperfections? In which way does this knowledge and awareness influence my behavior throughout the day, and, especially, my personal spiritual work?