Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus asks, “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?” I recommend that you apply this text to your choice of a spiritual director.

Does the person to whom you’ve entrusted your soul know where to take you? Or are they as lost as you are? How do we know whether they see properly? In a way, this is rather simple: Have you entrusted yourself to someone who is utterly dedicated to Christ? 

The next quality of a good spiritual teacher is that he acknowledges his need for a savior. Jesus uses a rather funny image to make this point. “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? 

Every spiritual teacher is eager to tell you what’s wrong with you. They are confident diagnosticians of your problems. But unless they’ve surrendered to Christ and found salvation in him, they are absolutely in no position to help you. They are as absurd as the man with a roof beam sticking out of his eye.