Gospel: 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.’

Luke 6:39-45

Reflection:

Our gospel for today is from Luke 6:39-45. The gospel tells us about a parable that Jesus used to relay to us an important lesson. It is about the parable of the two blind men. 

The gospel in Luke 6:39-45 holds deep meaning into it and one person can see the meaning if he understood. So, what is the meaning of the gospel that is important to us?

The gospel from Luke 6:39-45 means “we must assess our own self before we judge others”. We can also link this parable to the story of the “adulterous woman”. In that story, Jesus told the people whoever is there without sin may cast the first stone to the woman. The people who gather didn’t throw the stones because they are sinners as well.

It is God who sees our heart and not anybody else. We may be good to others in our actions and in our words yet we hid our dark sides from the world. Only God knows what we as a person in and out. Before we focus on the faults of others, we must first focus on our own faults.

We must all cleanse ourselves first before we tell others about themselves. No matter how righteous we are in this life, we all have stains. It seems that in our world today, people have a tough time examining their own self.

Pride and prejudice rule the world. The people are into power and personal dominions. This is what is happening in our world at present. Why do you think wars erupt in our neighboring countries? The answer is simple: Our leaders are the ones who forgot to assess themselves luring their people to war. 

If only the leaders of the nations are to examine inner peace to sustain our thriving countries. People at present do not anymore understand their sins. We all will die because we are mortals. If we still want peace within our community, it will start on ourselves. We must learn to assess ourselves rather than put the blame on our brothers and sisters.

We will include in our prayers:

Lord, please stop the wars in the world. Please guide the hearts and mind of our leaders not to put the children at risk. We only wanted peace throughout the whole world. Amen. 

– Clea | Helpline PH