Like Saint Francis, when we let God lead us among those who are seemingly repulsive, our love eventually makes them beautiful and they become a source of sweetness and joy to us. This is not because we are patronizing them or “doing good” but because we are changed inside and begin to see people as they really are in God’s sight. Our vision is cleared of our own prejudices and dim perception. For only love opens our eyes to what is really there. The tragedy of those who don’t have charity is that they project their own failures and ugliness onto others and think that the evil and imperfection inside is really outside them and resides in people and situations they can’t stand. And that is what it means to be spiritually blind. It’s hard to see anything but splinters when there’s a beam in your own eye.
— from the book Song of the Sparrow: New Poems and Meditations by Murray Bodo, OFM
//Franciscan Media//