Discovering the ‘log’ in your own eye
Fr David Howell• March 2, 2025
“First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye” (Luke 6:42)
In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus uses a vivid image of us having a log in our eye: it seems absurd that someone could not see or feel such a thing. But we are all capable of an even greater absurdity on the spiritual level when we think we know ourselves completely. A blind man would never offer to lead someone else anywhere, but when we direct others spiritually without due preparation ourselves, we are doing worse.
But how can we discover our hidden sins, the “log” in our eye?
Strangely, sometimes the first step to deepening our self-knowledge is to notice another’s fault: the speck (literally a “twig”) and the log are made of the same kind of material, wood. Often the faults we notice in others are of the same kind as our faults.
Above all we must pray to see our hidden sins, like the psalmist: “But who can discern his errors? Clear me from hidden faults” (Psalm 19:12).
We need not pray for this with anxiety, but with serene humility, following the reasoning of St Paul: “I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me” (1 Cor 4:4).
Jesus himself taught that even those who think themselves faultless can be mistaken: “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers'” (Matthew 7:22-23).
Another clue to our heart’s real intentions is our own actions: “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil” (Luke 6:45). If I examine my actions, then I will discover more about the intentions that give rise to them; if I try to peer into my intentions directly, I can delude myself.
If we receive the grace of knowing more of our hidden faults, then we begin to see others more clearly too: it is the “log” which obstructs our view of the “speck” in another’s eye, and stops us helping the other person remove it, by gentle, loving correction.
Am I always ready and willing to discover a “log” in my soul’s eye? It can be deflating when it happens, but let’s ask for the grace of rejoicing when it does. Every time we spot a “log” in us, it is a gift from Jesus, who carried the “log” of the cross for us.
May the beams of the cross be our refuge and glory! Every increase in self-knowledge makes our intentions purer and every act of pure love is infallibly fruitful. May St Paul’s call in the second reading encourage us: “be…always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:58).
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Photo: Detail from ‘Sermon on the Mount’ by Carl Bloch (1877).
Fr David Howell is an assistant priest at St Bede’s in Clapham Park. His previous studies include canon law in Rome, Classics at Oxford and a licence in Patristics at the Augustinianum Institute in Rome. He is a regular contributor to the Catholic Herald; his other articles can be accessed here.