Texts taken from the Missal “On Your Word” January-February 2022
8th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
4th week in the Psalter
FIRST READING
From the Book of Sirach (Sir 27:5-8 (NV) [Gr. 27:4-7])
When a sieve is shaken, the refuse remains; so when a person argues, his defects appear. The potter's vessels are tested in the furnace, so a person's reasoning is tested by discussion. The fruit shows how a tree has been cultivated, so a word reveals the thoughts of the heart. Do not praise anyone before he has spoken, for this is the test of people.
Commentary on the first reading
“Every tree is known by its fruit,” Jesus says in today's Gospel. Several of the Lord's sayings are drawn from the Old Testament, because he makes the wisdom of the past his own in order to apply it to his listeners of the present and of all time. In this case, Sirach already teaches the value of human speech: it is genuine if it comes from a good, wise, consistent person. Speech comes, in fact, from the inner world: if this is united and in communion with God, speech is pure; if the inner world is dark, chaotic, and vicious, speech bears the marks of its corrupted origin. Hence the importance of silence and habitual recollection. If a person is unable to be silent, he is also unable to speak, because every wise word comes from an inner world of silence. If someone is always talking, talking too much, his speech easily becomes chatter. The person who meditates, observes, remains silent, reasons, and stays recollected within, where divine grace lives, will also speak a thoughtful, just, constructive word. Such was Jesus' word: a word of fire that left its mark.
SECOND READING
From the first letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (1 Cor 15:54-58)
Brothers and sisters, when this corruptible body has put on incorruptibility and this mortal body has put on immortality, then the saying written in Scripture will come about: “Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law. Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be firm and steadfast, always excelling in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Commentary on the second reading
The extraordinary 15th chapter of the first letter to the Corinthians addresses what will happen to us after death. What will become of our body? We know that its organic elements will dissolve, but in Paradise (and, alas, in Hell as well) will we have our body? Will we recognize one another? Will we have hands, feet, and our face? And if we have a mouth, will we need to speak? And if we have legs, will we walk? The apostle does not give us many details, but he tells us that the mortal body will be clothed with immortality, implying that the body will be the same, but “covered over,” and therefore spiritual, no longer subject to biological needs. The dogma of the resurrection of the body - which we proclaim every Sunday in the Creed - is one of the least commented-on and explored, but also one of the most consoling: what I am now, I will be forever; indeed, I will be more radiant and glorious if I am saved in Paradise. Nothing is lost, because what God does is perfect: we bring the body to fulfillment through fidelity to divine life and through acts of charity.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to Luke (Lk 6:39-45)
At that time, Jesus told his disciples a parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the splinter in your eye,’ while you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye. There is no good tree that produces bad fruit, nor again a bad tree that produces good fruit. For every tree is known by its fruit: figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor grapes picked from a bramble. A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Commentary on the Gospel of the day
The Lord's saying seems to belong more to natural wisdom than to a revealed truth: if the tree is good, its fruits will be tasty; if it is bad, they will be inedible. But what the Lord says at the beginning of the passage does not belong to simple popular wisdom: we must work deeply on our inner life, to the point of being concerned with the beam within us rather than with the splinter in our neighbor. Everyone should feel involved: our capacity for self-criticism is rather limited, because we always tend to justify ourselves and be severe with our neighbor. The secret of holiness consists in humbly recognizing our nothingness and even being content with it. “God has granted me the great grace,” Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus said, “not only to know that I am miserable, but to enjoy being so.” Yes, because God is drawn to these humble and simple hearts, and immediately pours himself out into those who know that they are nothing. Let us pray with these words: “O God, take the nothingness that I am, and give me the all that you are.” Every inner beam will thus be destroyed.
