"They preach but they do no practice." Those are chilling words.
Why? Because anyone to whom we try to give advice could speak those words to us: "Who are you tell me what to do? You're not exactly the model of perfection. I don't see any halo around your head."
And they're right. Down deep we know that we don't live up to everything we encourage others to do. But Jesus isn't criticizing a sinner for helping a sinner. What he is after here is hypocrisy - pretending we're someone we're not.
The simple way to avoid being a hypocrite is to acknowledge our own flaws. St. Paul did it over and over to those to whom he preached. That's one reason why he was such a powerful preacher.
The season of Lent is a time when we acknowledge our sinfulness. When we do that, we're in a much better position to be helpful to others.
- Little Black Book, Diocese of Saginaw