February 28 2022.  Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL   Luke 6:39-45

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

 

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

 

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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 thorn bushes,
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."

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

 

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

1. There are two connected parts to the Gospel. The first has the metaphor of the person who criticises the speck in another’s eye whilst ignoring the plank in his own. The second part reflects on how a tree is known by its fruits.

There are two principal parts to the Gospel reading. The first (the metaphor of the speck in another’s eye compared to the plank in one’s own) concerns the questions of presuming to correct the faults of others while one’s own issues are left unresolved. The second part of the Gospel (prepared in the first reading from Sirach) points out that the fruit reveals the way that the tree has been cultivated. We recognize a tree by its fruit. Jesus mentions a number of plants that have symbolic value. Figs and grapes were fruits that were synonymous with the Promised Land, whilst thorn bush and brambles were the result of the sin and being cast out from the Garden of Eden. It was humanity’s sin that made the world inhospitable and unfruitful. The point here is that it is the fruit that counts. We can work out wonderful plans, make eloquent and complicated arguments and discourses, but if the results of our efforts are sterile, then that shows that the tree is not a good tree.

 

2. Our words reveal the state of our hearts.

The Gospel ends by saying something that recalls the first reading from Sirach: “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". Here Jesus is asking us to examine the words that issue from us. Our words and our actions reveal something about our interior lives. Ultimately, they flow from our hearts. How often we encounter people who are committed to Christian projects and seem well-intentioned, but at the same time they murmur, criticize, spread poison with their comments, creating division and destroying fruitfulness. It is so important that we are vigilant about the state of our hearts! Our hearts can have many good impulses and characteristics, but this doesn’t excuse the many unacceptable elements that we permit to remain there. If these “planks” are allowed to remain there, they will overflow into negative and destructive actions and words, failing to produce fruit. For this reason, we must strive to take care of our inner purity of heart, rooting out bitterness and ambiguity. When we allow these infected roots to remain within us, they give rise to sterility and lack of fruitfulness of our actions.

 

3. Lent presents us with a timely opportunity to purify our hearts.

This Sunday, we have almost arrived at the gates of Lent. It is a good time to take care of our hearts. If we invest ourselves in taking care of our bodies, our life strategies and our work interests, but we do not take care of our hearts, then it will all be to no avail. If we do not exercise this “hygiene of the heart” then we will continue to give rise to all of the evil that is within us. The purification of the heart, the purification of our thoughts, is a long process. Thanks be to God that we have this period of Lent to undergo a good and healthy process of purification.

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

In the Gospel, Jesus speaks of the blind man who has a beam in his own eye but is fixated with pointing out the splinter in his brother’s eye. The attitude of placing oneself as a disciplinarian over others is one that we all have at various times. Sometimes we think we need to give others a moral lecture in order to straighten up the world. But Jesus saved the world, not by giving lectures, but by giving his life for us! We too ought to be ready to die for a person before we launch into a lecture of a moral sort. Only love in action gives us the right to speak with love. For Christians, love and truth coincide. Truth spoken without love is prone to being contaminated by elements that have no truth in them. This Gospel passage also speaks of the fruits of our works. The question I must ask is what fruit do I produce? The people around me will be able to answer better than I can! When they approach me, do I produce a harvest of love and mercy? Or do I produce moralisms, hardness of heart, relational bureaucracy? If we are honest with ourselves, then we will be aware that we produce much fruit that is rotten. Let us stop pretending to be the teachers of others. Let us place ourselves before life and the Lord as children willing to learn, disciples willing to follow the Lord Jesus.