As I considered the readings from the Mass this morning, especially the words of the gospel, they prompted me to reflect on the way that we perceive the world around us.
The thought came to me that we can spend the majority of our lives without truly seeing clearly. What stands in our way? And how can we be sure that we have actually apprehended things as they are?
I especially reflected on how we allow our preconceived notions to blind us to the greater needs of the world around us. It is something common to us all – something in our human nature – that often prevents us from cooperating with the will and purposes of God. Where this habitual blocking out becomes problematic is when it prevents us from seeing the need of our neighbor, and from seeing how placing our own interests first can cause us to be blind to those most in need of mercy.
These are important questions for our lives and the times we live in. Perhaps never before in history has it been as important to be sensitive to the outcry of others. Our times serve as a proving ground for all who call themselves Christian. I believe what qualifies this is that never before has there been as deep a need as now, both spiritually and materially. Never before the modern age have we had as great a means to provide for others, and likewise never before have we had as great a means to destroy. Never before has the call to be at the service of others, and at the defense of the most vulnerable, been as great.
Most often what prevents us from apprehending the need of others, and from acting upon that need, is a habitual attitude of understanding our relation to the world only in terms of how it affects us personally, or perhaps how it affects us as a community, a city, a state, or a nation.
I have noticed among some of the more vocal proponents of self-preservation, both within the context of Catholicism and of political viewpoints, both on the progressive and conservative sides of issues, a self-righteousness surpassing that of the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. It is much too easy to be duped into putting on blinders or into viewing the world through colored glasses. The more insidious variety of blindness is that which encourages itself, that which encourages a closing off from the needs of the world around us in the name of being right.
It is becoming more common to find views that try to tell us there is something good or righteous about closing ourselves off from others. They tell us that somehow we serve the gospel or the truth by refusing to look beyond familiar or comfortable zones. Often they will mock us if we stand up for being open to ideas that challenge where we are now, or suggest that we let go of the idols that prevent us from seeing God in every human being.
Many years ago, a wise professor of mine, now gone to his reward, explained that what we need in order to see is simply to walk in the shoes of the fisherman. By suspending our preconceived notions, if only momentarily, we allow ourselves the opportunity to experience life from the other fellow’s point of view. Ordinarily we tend to have a difficult time with this simple concept. Perhaps it is because seeing from the vantage of someone else most closely resembles removing the plank from our eye.
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