Please read the passage before the homily.
Blind people lead other blind people into danger. A person who cannot see cannot safely escort another person who cannot see.
If I were to stand up here and tell you what you should be doing for penance, I would be a blind person for you.
Lent is a time for celebrating God’s tremendous mercy and compassion. God knows that we are all sinners, and God wants us all to receive forgiveness for our sins. This is the season when in a special way God says, “I know your sins and I am ready to forgive all of them.”
Yes, God has given us Lent to remind us that God has forgiven our sins, even the ones buried under thick concrete five miles under ground in some far-off lonely spot where we hope nobody looks.
Yes, that sin, from that time, and from that place that only God knows you have done, yet God is ready to forgive that sin and every other sin of yours.
We are like trees. God looks out on us and sees our goodness. God prunes us because God can see that we can bear even more good fruit. Lent is God’s pruning season. We all need pruning and we all need redemption.
Lent is a time for celebrating God’s tremendous mercy and compassion. We celebrate God’s mercy best by showing mercy to others.
This is not a time for us to tell others how to do penance; it is a time for us to repent of our own sins and show mercy to others despite their sins. It is also true that we have not witnessed the sins of any other than ourselves. It is within us that sin is committed when we accept evil into our hearts, but we cannot see that secret place within others where sin is committed. It is for us to repent, to get rid of our own wooden beams. It is for us to clear out the bad fruit within ourselves so that we produce good fruit for others.