Monday - June 26, 2023
If God has given you the world's goods in abundance, it is to help you gain those of Heaven and to be a good example of sound teaching to your sons, servants, and relatives.
--Saint Ignatius
TODAY'S READINGS
Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 371
Reading I
Gn 12:1-9
The LORD said to Abram:
"Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk
and from your father's house to a land that I will show you.
"I will make of you a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you
and curse those who curse you.
All the communities of the earth
shall find blessing in you."
Abram went as the LORD directed him, and Lot went with him.
Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
Abram took his wife, Sarai, his brother's son Lot,
all the possessions that they had accumulated,
and the persons they had acquired in Haran,
and they set out for the land of Canaan.
When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land
as far as the sacred place at Shechem,
by the terebinth of Moreh.
(The Canaanites were then in the land.)
The LORD appeared to Abram and said,
"To your descendants I will give this land."
So Abram built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.
From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel,
pitching his tent with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east.
He built an altar there to the LORD and invoked the LORD by name.
Then Abram journeyed on by stages to the Negeb.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 33:12-13, 18-19, 20 and 22
R. (12) Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
From heaven the LORD looks down;
he sees all mankind.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The word of God is living and effective,
able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
R. Alleluia
Gospel Mt 7:1-5
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Stop judging, that you may not be judged.
For as you judge, so will you be judged,
and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye,
but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?
How can you say to your brother,
'Let me remove that splinter from your eye,'
while the wooden beam is in your eye?
You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first;
then you will see clearly
to remove the splinter from your brother's eye."
**********************************
Planks and specks in our spiritual vision
I used to look at today’s Gospel reading and think, “Well, so much for helping others get the specks out of their spiritual vision, because as soon as I want to do that, I grow a huge plank in my own!”
However, that’s not what Jesus meant. He never said we shouldn’t help others clean up their lives. Take a closer look at the sentences that preface his eye-opening story. We are not to judge anyone. We can and should judge people’s actions, and when we see sin happen, we should try to help them understand why it’s wrong and what they can do about it. We care so much for others that we don’t want to watch them bump through life with blurred vision, hurting themselves and others.
Our vision gets planked when we judge their motives.
The plank that blinds us is the idea that we can actually see into their hearts. Sure we have clues, but it’s only circumstantial evidence. We’re the bigger sinner when we take the clues and run — actually jump — to conclusions that are incorrect. And since we’re not God, we’re always incorrect to some extent.
If we trust our judgments, we’re trying to be God. Ahhh, now it’s the sin of idolatry; but we must not judge and condemn ourselves either. What were our motives? Did we intend to play God? Perhaps a dark, little part of us did, but our main motive was helpfulness. We need to repent of our blindness but appreciate and increase the goodness in our motives.
What are the specks that we’d like to take out of other people? It’s like having an eyelash loose in your eye. You can’t see it, but you know it’s there. It’s darn irritating. And if you fail to wash it out, you ask a friend to look and see if your eye’s okay. People’s specky sins are darn irritating to them, too, and they do appreciate our help — if it’s compassionate, non-judgmental, and humble, and if they are ready to get rid of whatever’s irritating them.
Take a slice of bread and slather it with peanut butter. Then drop it, peanut butter side down, into a pile of dead leaves. What gets stuck to it? That’s what sin looks like. Now clean out the debris. That’s what repentance is like. It’s messy. First we pull out the twigs (planks), because they’re big enough to be easy. But there are a lot of little specks that also need removal. It takes a long time, a lot of effort, patience, and persistence to completely clean it all up. And it requires good vision!
One reason why God put us into community is so that we can help each other see and remove the specks. However, to be helpful instead of sinful, we must never assume that we understand another person’s motives. The people we see sinning might very well be just as frustrated with their specks as we are! They will appreciate our assistance, but only when (1) they have gotten so frustrated that they want our help, and (2) we approach them without a plank in our eyes hitting their heads.
Prayer
Give me the grace, O Lord, to admit and accept my weakness and my capacity to sin. May this always remind me that I am not better than anyone else, and that You love and forgive us all equally. Amen.
God Bless You.....
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