Liturgy of the Sunday
Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Memorial of Shabbaz Bhatti, Minister of Minorities in Pakistan, a Christian, killed by terrorists because of his commitment in seeking peace and dialogue in 2011.
First Reading
Sirach 27,4-7
In a shaken sieve the rubbish is left behind, so too the defects of a person appear in speech. The kiln tests the work of the potter, the test of a person is in conversation. The orchard where the tree grows is judged by its fruit, similarly words betray what a person feels. Do not praise anyone who has not yet spoken, since this is where people are tested.
Psalmody
Psalm 92 (93)
Antiphon
O Lord let your kingdom come soon.
The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed;
the Lord has robed himself with might,
he has girded himself with power.
The world you made firm, not to be moved;
your throne has stood firm from of old.
From all eternity, O Lord, you are.
The waters have lifted up, O Lord,
the waters have lifted up their voice,
the waters have lifted up their thunder.
Greater than the roar of the mighty waters,
more glorious than the surgings of the sea,
the Lord is glorious on high.
Truly your decrees are to be trusted.
Holiness is fitting to your house,
O Lord, until the end of time.
Second Reading
1 Corinthians 15,54-58
And after this perishable nature has put on imperishability and this mortal nature has put on immortality, then will the words of scripture come true: Death is swallowed up in victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin comes from the Law. Thank God, then, for giving us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. So, my dear brothers, keep firm and immovable, always abounding in energy for the Lord's work, being sure that in the Lord none of your labours is wasted.
Reading of the Gospel
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Luke 6,39-45
He also told them a parable, 'Can one blind person guide another? Surely both will fall into a pit? Disciple is not superior to teacher; but fully trained disciple will be like teacher. Why do you observe the splinter in your brother's eye and never notice the great log in your own? How can you say to your brother, "Brother, let me take out that splinter in your eye," when you cannot see the great log in your own? Hypocrite! Take the log out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take out the splinter in your brother's eye. 'There is no sound tree that produces rotten fruit, nor again a rotten tree that produces sound fruit. Every tree can be told by its own fruit: people do not pick figs from thorns, nor gather grapes from brambles. Good people draw what is good from the store of goodness in their hearts; bad people draw what is bad from the store of badness. For the words of the mouth flow out of what fills the heart.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Homily
The short passage from the book of Sirach that invites us to consider the weight of words, in these days of war shows its truth as never before. How many fake and ambiguous words have justified actions of war and oppression! In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus himself warns the disciples that "on the day of judgement you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned" (Mt 12:36-37). "careless wors" are those who pull down without lifting up, those that destroy without rebuilding, that make people feel down without sustaining; they are words that spring from an evil heart that does not care about good of others.
The passage from the Gospel of Luke (6:39-45) that reports the last part of the sermon of Beatitudes, affirms that is from a good heart that good and useful words come, words that edify: "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit." And again: "Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?" With these affirmations Jesus wants to reaffirm the centrality of the heart I the lives of the disciples. Behaviours - as well as words - show what we are inside, what pulses in our heart and substantiates our life. Hence the urgency for the disciples allow the "Word of God" to scrutinize them, and to let it leaven and transform their hearts and become able to generate words and behaviours conform to the word they heard. It is the way for the disciple to become a witness to the Gospel: his/her example and words are a light for others. Blindness is the bitter effect of focusing on oneself, of retreating into one's own convictions unenlightened by the Word of God. And one also thinks oneself a master. But - Jesus warns - can a blind man lead another blind man? Then there is the temptation to judge others with a malevolent eye, which Jesus stigmatises: "Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye and not notice the beam in your own eye?" The Gospel invites us to humility, to cultivate a good heart from which good words will come out, full of mercy and truth. The Gospel opens the eyes of the mind and warms the heart in order to see with Jesus' same eyes, to be moved with his same feelings and to meet others with mercy.
All this is not given for granted and even less spontaneous. It requires real work on one's inner life, ascesis over our own instincts, perseverance in listening to the Word of God, and a strong bond with the community of brothers and sisters.