“The question is not what you look at, but what you see.”

As the hand held before the eye conceals the greatest mountain, so the little earthly life hides from the glance the enormous lights and mysteries of which the world is full, and he who can draw his hand away from before his eyes beholds the great shining of the spiritual life.

Gospel text (Mt 23,23-26): Jesus said:
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin,
and have neglected the weightier things of the law:
judgment and mercy and fidelity.
But these you should have done, without neglecting the others.
Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,
so that the outside also may be clean."

Today's Gospel represents an invitation for those persons, the most outstanding groups of the Christian communities, that is, their guides, to appraise their conscience. Do we respect fundamental values? Do we value norms more than people? Do we impose upon others what we cannot do, ourselves? Do we speak from the complacency of our own ideas or from our humility of heart?

The religious leaders of Jesus' time were more interested in exterior than interior cleanness. Likewise, today we are more interested in baths, showers, dry cleaners, dishwashers, washing machines, mouthwashes, shampoos, toothpastes, dental floss, disinfectants, clean air, clean water, working out in the gym, etc. than we are interested in the interior cleaning from our sins by means of repentance, Confession, prayer, and penance. We have things backwards, for interior cleanness is much more important than exterior cleanness. Without interior cleanness, we will lose perspective on reality (Mt 23:23-24) and gradually go spiritually blind (see 2 Cor 4:4).

The Pharisees have long been gone, but many still swallow camels today. You may be a modern-day Pharisee if:

You lead the fight to have kneelers in your church but continue to vote for pro-abortion politicians.

You often hint that you want your spouse to lose weight but neglect for months at a time to say "I love you."

You pray the Our Father for God's will to be done in your life (Mt 6:10) but use artificial birth control or sterilization so that He can't do His will in your life.

You are more interested in watching mindless TV programs than on praying to God, the Creator and Redeemer of the world.

You are more concerned about the few years of our retirement but not so much about the countless years after our deaths.

If we concentrate hard enough on the gnats, sometimes when we swallow, the camel goes down our throats so easily we don't even notice that we've swallowed it. "For all these reasons, let anyone who thinks he is standing upright watch out lest he fall!" (1 Cor 10:12). Therefore, let us cry to the Holy Spirit and ask for His mercy so that we will not lose perspective, lose touch with reality.

The Lord has provided for us "a fountain to purify from sin and uncleanness" (Zec 13:1). Go to Confession regularly (once a month is a good practice): "A clean heart create for me, O God" (Ps 51:12). "Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me" (51:4).

Amen!