Once I used to attend formation talks, retreats and would often see a fellow parishioner attending the very same ones. I thought to myself how can he attend, listen intently and not change? How could he continue to act all ‘holy’ and yet be so critical of others? Did he think that all the stuff he picked up at the retreats and formation was to guide someone else lesser than him? I will pray that the Lord open his eyes to see!
How did I neglect to see that he my fellow parishioner was my brother in Christ? How blind was I? How prideful? How did I fail to recognise the PLANK in my very own eyes? Had I thought that deep down, the word of God I was reflecting on daily was meant to be shared for everyone else’s sake? Had I subconsciously rejected the hardships of living the word in my own life?
St Paul reminds me today that we are all in a race to the finish! That is to our Heavenly destination. If my brother or sister is humble then I must strive harder to be more humble, by laying down my pride more and carrying my cross for my Lord more. If they are loving I must strive to more loving and so on. NO it is not about being in competition; but rather about encouraging one another to do better, to be better by the way we live our very own lives through Christ our Lord. Amen
First reading
1 Corinthians 9:16-19,22-27We go into strict training, like fighters at the gamesI do not boast of preaching the gospel, since it is a duty which has been laid on me; I should be punished if I did not preach it! If I had chosen this work myself, I might have been paid for it, but as I have not, it is a responsibility which has been put into my hands. Do you know what my reward is? It is this: in my preaching, to be able to offer the Good News free, and not insist on the rights which the gospel gives me. So though I am not a slave of any man I have made myself the slave of everyone so as to win as many as I could. I made myself all things to all men in order to save some at any cost; and I still do this, for the sake of the gospel, to have a share in its blessings. All the runners at the stadium are trying to win, but only one of them gets the prize. You must run in the same way, meaning to win. All the fighters at the games go into strict training; they do this just to win a wreath that will wither away, but we do it for a wreath that will never wither. That is how I run, intent on winning; that is how I fight, not beating the air. I treat my body hard and make it obey me, for, having been an announcer myself, I should not want to be disqualified.
Gospel
Luke 6:39-42Can the blind lead the blind?Jesus told a parable to the disciples: ‘Can one blind man guide another? Surely both will fall into a pit? The disciple is not superior to his teacher; the fully trained disciple will always be like his teacher. Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the plank in your own? How can you say to your brother, “Brother, let me take out the splinter that is in your eye,” when you cannot see the plank in your own? Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take out the splinter that is in your brother’s eye.’
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