Catechism Links [1]
CCC 2563: The
heart is the home of truth
CCC 1755-1756: Good acts and evil acts
CCC 1783-1794: Forming conscience and decision-making
CCC 2690:
Spiritual direction
CCC 1009-1013: Christian view of death
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| “The Blind Leading the Blind” by Pieter van der Heyden,c. 1561 |
Readings
and Commentary [4]
First Reading: Sirach 27:4-7
When a sieve is shaken, the husks
appear;
so do one's faults when one
speaks.
As the test of what the potter molds
is in the furnace,
so in tribulation is the test
of the just.
The fruit of a tree shows the care
it has had;
so too does one's speech
disclose the bent of one's mind.
Praise no one before he speaks,
for it is then that people
are tested.
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Commentary on Sir 27:4-7
In this passage the author addresses
dangers to human integrity and friendship with three analogies. The
analogy of the shaken sieve refers to the process of separating good grain from
husks (or refuses from the Greek kopria). The grain is passed through the
sieve but the refuse is thrown away or burned. The analogy is mindful of
the St. John the Baptist’s references to the threshing floor (Matthew 3:12) where the wheat remains but the chaff
is burned. The second analogy, the potter's test, is consistent with the
theme of the just being tested through tribulations (see also Sirach 2:5; Wisdom 3:5-6;
1 Peter 1:7).
The passage clarifies what will be
considered by God and others to be the fruits of integrity; the words uttered
by a person define the person’s heart to others. Similarly Jesus will
also take up this topic as he states “It is not what enters one’s mouth that
defiles that person; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.”
(Matthew 15:11)
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 92:2-3,
13-14, 15-16
R.
(cf. 2a) Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
It is good to give thanks to the
LORD,
to sing praise to your name.
Most High,
to proclaim your kindness at dawn
and your faithfulness
throughout the night.
R. Lord, it is good to give thanks
to you.
The just one shall flourish like the
palm tree,
like a cedar of Lebanon shall
he grow.
They that are planted in the house
of the LORD
shall flourish in the courts
of our God.
R. Lord, it is good to give thanks
to you.
They shall bear fruit even in
old age;
vigorous and sturdy shall
they be,
declaring how just is the Lord,
my rock, in whom there is no
wrong.
R. Lord, it is good to give thanks
to you.
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Commentary on Ps 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16
Psalm 92 is a song of
thanksgiving. The psalmist sees God’s gifts pouring onto the faithful and in
consequence, those who dwell with the Lord will flourish and bear fruit. In
their faith there is great strength and endurance in God’s great wholesomeness.
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Second Reading: 1
Corinthians 15:54-58
Brothers and sisters:
When this which is corruptible
clothes itself with incorruptibility
and this which is mortal
clothes itself with immortality,
then the word that is written
shall come about:
Death is
swallowed up in victory.
Where, O
death, is your victory?
Where, O
death, is your sting?
The sting of death is sin,
and the power of sin is the
law.
But thanks be to God who gives us
the victory
through our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brothers and
sisters,
be firm, steadfast,
always fully devoted to the work of the Lord,
knowing that in the
Lord your labor is not in vain.
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Commentary on 1 Cor
15:54-58
This passage is St.
Paul’s hymn of victory over death. It concludes his discourse on the
resurrection. When the bodies of the elect, by resurrection or change, become
incorrupt, death is defeated, prophecy is fulfilled (Isaiah 25:8), and the final victory is won. He loosely quotes Hosea 13:14 in which the “sting” of death is vanquished; a reference to
the venomous sting of a serpent’s bit, the allegory to sin. The serpent without
its sting can no longer harm those clothed in Christ.
St. Paul sees this as existential
application of the Law, by which sin was defined and applied but without giving
mankind the strength to avoid the sins so defined (see also Romans 7:7-25). The hard work of the faithful Christian is not in vain as
Christ’s victory is granted and salvation assured.
CCC: 1 Cor
15:56 602
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Gospel: Luke 6:39-45
Jesus told his disciples a parable,
"Can a blind
person guide a blind person?
Will not both fall into a pit?
No disciple is superior to the
teacher;
but when fully trained,
every disciple will be
like his teacher.
Why do you notice the splinter in
your brother's eye,
but do not perceive the
wooden beam in your own?
How can you say to your brother,
'Brother, let me remove
that splinter in your eye,'
when you do not even
notice the wooden beam in your own
eye?
You hypocrite! Remove the wooden
beam from your eye first;
then you will see
clearly
to remove the splinter
in your brother's eye.
"A good tree does not
bear rotten fruit,
nor does a rotten tree
bear good fruit.
For every tree is known by its
own fruit.
For people do not pick figs
from thornbushes,
nor do they gather
grapes from brambles.
A good person out of the store
of goodness in his heart
produces
good,
but an evil person out
of a store of evil produces evil;
for from the fullness
of the heart the mouth speaks."
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Commentary on Lk 6:39-45
St. Luke continues
Jesus’ dialogue from the “Sermon on the Plain” concerning the judgment of
others. Taking his disciples aside he tells them that in time they will assume
his role in proclaiming the Gospel (“but
when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher”). The exhortation that follows is not intended to say that
they should not notice the failings of others; that would be inconsistent
with Matthew 7:5,6. Rather it is “against passing judgment in a spirit of
arrogance, forgetful of one's own faults.” [5]
The passage concludes Jesus’
discourse on judgment of others using the analogy of the fruits born by a tree
– good and bad. The intent of this allegory was to expose false prophets –
hypocrites who say one thing but do another. "What matters is not whether
or not we wear a religious habit; it is whether we try to practice the virtues
and surrender our will to God and order our lives as His Majesty ordains, and
not want to do our will but his" (St Teresa of Avila, "Interior
Castle", II, 6). [6]
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Reflection:
I recently met a man while on a trip
to the North Country. He was standing outside my hotel room as I checked
out and he seemed ordinary enough. He had a really pretty black Labrador retriever
on a leash lying at his feet. I had come and gone to the room a couple
times, bringing out bags, when he struck up a conversation. I commented
on his dog and he told me it was the first time he had been off-leash which
surprised me because he was clearly on a leash. It was then that the man
told me he was blind and the dog was in fact a leader dog. I did
not realize the man was blind until he told me.
It begs the question, in light of
today’s Gospel from St. Luke, how do we know if those we meet are blind?
Or perhaps even a better question; how do we know when we are blind? The
Lord speaks to us about being judgmental; of making determinations about
others before we understand completely their situations. Like the blind
man who didn’t seem blind, how often do we assume others are blind without
trying to understand where their apparent blindness comes from?
As disciples of Christ we are called
to treat every person we meet with the dignity that should be afforded to a son
or daughter of God. We are told, in no uncertain terms, that we must not
be deceived by appearances or, as the Lord himself showed us as he was tempted
in the desert, not to be fooled by smooth speech and overly generous
offers. We are called to examine our own motives and standards.
Taking the Gospel from Luke with the
analogies from Sirach we must draw one piece of wisdom from what we have heard
today; embrace God’s wisdom for ourselves, praying for God’s grace and peace,
and do not set a bar for the behavior of others we ourselves cannot achieve.
Pax
In other years on March 2nd,
Optional Memorial for Saint Katherine Drexel, Virgin
[1] Catechism
links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, published by the
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June
2014.
[2] The
picture is “The Blind Leading the Blind” by Pieter van der Heyden,c. 1561.
[4] The
readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm
and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is
for private use only.
[5] See
NAB footnote on Matthew 7:1.
[6] The
Navarre Bible, “Gospels and Acts”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002,
pp. 396.
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