1 Corinthians 15:54-58
When this perishable nature has put on imperishability, and when this mortal nature has put on immortality, then the words of scripture will come true: Death is swallowed up in victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and sin gets its power from the Law. So let us thank God for giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Never give in then, my dear brothers, never admit defeat; keep on working at the Lord’s work always, knowing that, in the Lord, you cannot be labouring in vain.
Luke 6:39-45
Jesus told a parable to his 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.
‘There is no sound tree that produces rotten fruit, nor again a rotten tree that produces sound fruit. For every tree can be told by its own fruit: people do not pick figs from thorns, nor gather grapes from brambles. A good man draws what is good from the store of goodness in his heart; a bad man draws what is bad from the store of badness. For a man’s words flow out of what fills his heart.’
What touched my soul
Jesus tells us a beautiful parable in this Sunday gospel.
"Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the plank in your own?"
What beautiful image is this one that Jesus give us in today reading.
I don't know about you, but I do this every single day, sometimes several times a day.
For some reason I catch myself observing and judging my brothers and sisters splinters and thinking of them as big planks, allowing this to blind my own.
As Jesus cured Bartimaeus blindness (Mark 10: 46-52) let us beg our Lord in His infite mercy to heal our blindeness. Let us pray for His forgiveness and open our sight and make us humble. To recognize we are no more than sinners that must not judge our brothers and sisters, even that only in our thoughts.
