That purity of heart without which we cannot see God is also the same purity of heart that enables us to truly see one another. Many of our interpersonal conflicts are the result of viewing others through the distorting lenses imposed by our still unpurified hearts. Thus, like the man in today’s gospel—who saw people looking like trees and walking—we might be said to not truly see our brother or sister in the way God sees them. And what is true of our distorted manner of perceiving others is no less true of how we see ourselves. In resisting that self-knowledge that must precede purity of heart, we are like someone who looks at his own face in a mirror, sees himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like. Christ is willing to cure our spiritual blindness, but only if we are prepared to look and not forget what his Spirit reveals of our hearts and their sinful condition. Only in this way will we too be freed and cured of our sin so that, in the words of today’s psalm, we can think the truth in [our] heart and not slander with [our] tongue.
Michael Baker says
Thank you Fr. Jospeh for your reflection which provides a beautiful lesson on true perception of our neighbour, we can easily develop a distorted view of others by the common system of labelling people as a type rather than seeing people as unique individuals precious to the Father.