“There are none so blind as those who will not see.” (attributed to John Heywood)  As the Lord says through Jeremiah the prophet, “Who have eyes and see not, who have ears and hear not.” (Jer 5,21)  Jesus cautioned the Pharisees in the gospel of John, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.” (Jn 9,41)  In our arrogance we think we can see and judge the faults and failings of others but we all too often “turn a blind eye” to our own defects.  We think that we know ourselves in our pride but we refuse to look into the mirror of truth that might reveal our sizable blemishes.  Without self-knowledge we remain as blind guides to others and we can only do them harm.  We think that we know how things should be and we are quick to point out the faults and blemishes of others while going to great lengths to avoid having to confront our own personal faults.

    There is a very human temptation to relish the faults and failures of others, to even take some delight at another’s failure because it makes our faults seem smaller and less significant.  This is a convenient lie that we tell ourselves to make ourselves feel better and perhaps even superior to others.  We remain unaware of the depths of our hypocrisy.  Jesus warns us:  “You hypocrite!  Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.” (Luke 6,42)  Clear sight comes from self-knowledge which helps us to clearly see our own faults and defects and grow in humility.  

    St. Catherine of Siena, in her Dialogues, speaks of a circle of self-knowledge in which the soul is a tree that is planted in the middle of the circle in the rich soil of humility.  Only by never leaving the circle of self-knowledge will the tree of the soul be able to bear good fruit.  God tells Catherine, “You cannot arrive at virtue except through knowing yourself and knowing me.”  He continues, “You ask for the will to know and love me, supreme Truth.  Here is the way, if you would come to perfect knowledge and enjoyment of me, eternal Life: Never leave the knowledge of yourself.  Then, put down as you are in the valley of humility you will know me in your self, and from this knowledge you will draw all that you need.”

    To gain self-knowledge, a person needs to look into a mirror and see oneself clearly.  For Catherine, God is that gentle mirror:  “As the soul comes to know herself she also knows God better, for she sees how good he has been to her.  In the gentle mirror of God she sees her own dignity: that through no merit of hers but by his creation she is the image of God.  And in the mirror of God’s goodness she sees as well her own unworthiness, the work of her own sin.  For just as you can better see the blemish on your face when you look at yourself in a mirror, so that soul who in true self-knowledge rises up with desire to look at herself in the gentle mirror of God with the eye of understanding sees all the more clearly her own defects because of the purity she sees in him.”  True and humble self-knowledge opens the way for a deeper knowledge of God.  Looking in the gentle mirror of God, we can see the beam in our own eye and remove it by God’s grace so that we can see clearly to help others with the splinters from which they suffer.

    Fraternal correction is good and necessary, it is good to help someone to remove a splinter from their eye, but it must come from a place of humility and a knowledge of our own defects and faults.  Jesus teaches his disciples:  “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.  If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.” (Mt 18,15)  Before you speak to another about their faults, you must first examine your own faults in true humility and approach him with love and a pure heart.  Jesus teaches us, “A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Luke 6,45)  Words of admonition need to come from a heart full of love and mercy.  St. Paul writes in his letter to the Galatians: “Even if a person is caught in some transgression, you who are spiritual should correct that one in a gentle spirit, looking to yourself, so that you also may not be tempted…For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he is deluding himself.” (Gal 6,1.3)  

    The tree that is planted in the circle of self-knowledge and rooted in humility will bear good fruit and will be a delight to our Lord and to others!