TO SEE CLEARLY
This
story is not about two blind men guiding each other. It’s about two
priests who are both my housemates at Cardinal Sin Welcome Home (a home
for retired and sick priests of the Archdiocese of Manila). They are
both hard of hearing, almost deaf. Yet, they sit together side by side
during meals. We often see them whispering to each other and then
bursting into laughter. I don’t know how they can understand each other,
but they always seem to have a good time conversing.
Can “a blind person guide a blind person”? The Gospel is subtle against
hypocrisy. Many people blinded by wrong values and moral misconceptions
tend to counsel others whom they think have gone astray.
I remember before I took my sabbatical, I was feeling stressed,
depressed and anxious because of my various roles of service: as parish
priest to one of the most thickly populated and poorest districts in
Manila; as director of a school with more than two thousand students;
keeping a death-defying work and apostolate regimen; ministering to the
Charismatics; taking charge of the Student Affairs Commision of the
schools in the archdiocese and various social action programs for the
poor. It came to a point when I just wanted to stop and rest to nourish
my body, mind and soul in solitude. I knew that even if I
continued to deliver homilies with fire and brimstone, I felt empty deep inside me. I was a blind man guiding other blind men.
In the course of my sabbatical, I once cried while praying before the
Blessed Sacrament, “Lord, I missed You!” I realized that I became too
busy doing the work of God but I forgot to recognize the God of the
work. Thus, the need to fill my heart again with His love and quench my thirst from
the spring of living water that He offers. It washed the hypocrisy in
me. Now, I can preach and counsel effectively because I went through the
humbling process of seeing the speck in my own eyes. Only then was I
able to rightfully help others remove the specks in their
eyes. Fr. Erick Y. Santos, OFS
REFLECTION QUESTION: What have you done to correct your own shortcomings, which in turn enabled you to correct others?
Lord, grant me the humility to admit my wrongdoings and the enthusiasm to guide others in a loving way. Amen.
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