June 20, 2016

June 20

June 20, 2016:  Monday, 12th week, Ordinary Time



  • 'Golden calf' tie pin:  "the children of Israel venerated other gods" (1st reading)
  • 'Hands' tie:  "Help us with your right hand, Lord." (psalm)
  • 'Rock' tie pin:  "You have rocked the country" (psalm)
  • 'Ruler' tie bar:  The measure you measure will be measured to you (gospel)
  • 'Wood block' tie pin, 'eyeball' pin:  Splinter in my brother’s eye vs. beam in mine (gospel)
  • '?" tie pin: Jesus' questions:  "Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye but not the beam in yours?  How can you say, ‘Let me remove that splinter’ while the beam is in your eye?  Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?" (gospel)
  • Green shirt:  Ordinary Time season
Listen

For the psalm
Look in the mirror, not to put on makeup to hide the wrinkles, but to see yourself as you are.  "Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye but not the log in yours?"  How can you say, "Let me take the speck out of your eye" when the log is still in yours?  When we do, the Lord sees we're hypocrites.  Take out your log to see clearly....
The Lord gets angry when we put ourselves in God’s place, like Adam and Eve did as the serpent persuaded.  Being judgmental is ugly.  Judgment belongs to God alone!  When we see bad things, it's for us to love, understand, and pray.  Talk kindly to others so they may learn from their mistakes, but never judge.  Our judgment is poor, never true, because it lacks God's mercy.  We all want the Lord to look kindly on us and forget the bad things we've done.  The measure we judge by will be used for us.... 
Read

  • 2 Kgs 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18  King Shalmaneser took Samaria and deported the children of Israel to Assyria.  This came about because they sinned and venerated other gods; though the Lord warned, “Give up your evil ways and keep my commandments,” they didn't listen.  Only the tribe of Judah was left.
  • Ps 60:3, 4-5, 12-13  "Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us."  You've have rejected us, broken our defenses, rocked the country and split it open; repair its cracks.
  • Mt 7:1-5  “Stop judging; you'll be judged as you judge.  Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye but not the beam in yours?  Hypocrite, remove the beam; then you'll see clearly to remove the splinter.”
Reflect
    • Creighton:  Pre-flight announcements advise passengers to secure their own masks before assisting neighbors.  This ties in to today’s gospel:  I need to remove the “beam” from my eye before attending to my neighbor's splinter.  We're so quick to judge others.  Why is it hard to look at myself?  To avoid tough questions?  Don't want to change?  To follow Jesus, I need to look at my life and see where I fall short.  I need to be my best to give my best to others.  Reflection takes discipline, but the reward makes it worth it.
    • Passionist:  Jesus calls us to humility about our sinfulness.  When we recognize our own sin, we become more understanding of others.  Once we remove our beam, we may see that the splinter we thought we saw isn't really there.  May God give us the grace to acknowledge our sin, and see clearly enough to help others.
    • DailyScripture.net:  "First take the log out of your own eye":  We must "think the best of others" to grow in love.  Kind judgment is a sacred duty, but it's easy to misjudge and hard to be impartial.  We usually judge wrongly because we can't see motives and intentions, or don't know all the facts, or are swayed by instinct and gut reactions.  It's easier to find fault in others than in oneself.  "Whenever necessity compels you to reprove or rebuke, proceed with discernment and caution.  If the fault is one you've never had, remember you could have had it.  If the fault is one you had but overcame, remember our common frailty so our correction and admonition will be with mercy.  Either way, singleness of eye will keep you safe.  But if you find you have the same fault, don't correct or rebuke, but bemoan your fault and induce the other to a similar concern." (Augustine, Sermon on the Mount)
    Jesus says what you give to others will return to you.  The Lord knows and sees our faults, weaknesses, and sins, even what we don't recognize, and patiently draws us to his mercy seat and removes the sin.  Do I trust in God's mercy and submit to his truth about what's right and wrong?  Lord, purify my heart your mercy so I'll have room for charity and forbearance.  "Give us the humility that realizes its ignorance, admits its mistakes, recognizes its need, welcomes advice, accepts rebuke.  Help us to praise not criticize, sympathize not discourage, build not destroy, and think of people at their best not their worst." (Barclay)
      • SS. Alban, Julius and Aaron, martyrs
    Posted by at

    No comments:

    Post a Comment

    Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)