Cycle C - Year I:  

3 March 2019: Eight Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:         Sirach 27:4-7

Second Reading:   1 Corinthians 15:54-58

Gospel:  Please Read  Luke 6:39-45

To judge others with a prayerful heart....

 At election season, probably everywhere in our human world, candidates try to outdo each other in criticizing and finding faults against opponents. It's an old and discredited dirty politics but it persists because electorate patronize it, so it seems, particularly when corrupted with money and false promises. But then, criticism is the most dishonest way of praising one's self.

This Sunday's Gospel is a timely reminder about the right conduct in dealing with the shortcomings of others. In the Gospel, our Lord Jesus spoke about criticism, judgment and weak character using parables which employ images common to His life time. The lesson He wants to impart is part of the formation of those who want to follow our Lord as disciples.

Now our human nature has the tendency to guide and correct people. But it can be a common weakness to judge others while not recognizing our own faults and need for God's mercy. For there is always a strong temptation in us to be quick to see the flaws in others.

Jesus Himself does not deny that people have failings, but He invites us to look to our own blind spots first. And we are hypocrites if we are concerned only with the splinters of one's eye and do not recognize our own self-blinding plank. 

Do we pass judgement with arrogance and pride?

Our Lord Jesus does not prohibit us from correcting those who err or are in a sinful state. But then He wants that in passing judgment we should do so in the spirit of prayer, great humility, compassion, and love.

For God sees each of us from the inside. Our heavenly Father sees us with a generous and compassionate gaze and does not despise or condemns us for our shortcomings and failings.

In the Eucharist at Mass, let us pray for grace to be loving and forgiving. Lord, make me more aware of my own inadequacies so that I may become gentle in dealing with others. And make me gaze at my erring brethren as kindly as You do, our heavenly Father. Amen.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!