Reading 1: 1 Timothy 1:1-2, 12-14
Responsorial: Psalm 16:1b-2a and 5, 7-8, 11
Gospel: Luke 6:39-42
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091021.cfm
https://www.deaconrudysnotes.org/
We were living in Switzerland when the pandemic hit Europe. I got to say, I was a little concerned. Well, I was more than a little concerned. They talked about people with comorbidities being at high risk. I’m an older, overweight Latino male. I’m the poster child for high risk! The pandemic rocked my world.
We experienced a particularly hard shutdown in Switzerland. Even our church that easily could seat 500 people was limited by the government to 50 people. So, every Monday morning around 9:00 am, the parish office would send out an email link to register for mass. By lunchtime, all 50 seats were gone. So, we couldn’t gather. We couldn’t reassure or encourage each other.
We hadn’t yet set up our online group. To this day we have two rosary groups that meet via WhatsApp to pray the rosary. One meets on Mondays and the other on Wednesdays. We socialize a little or of course and collect prayer intentions, but then we pray the rosary. But it took us a little bit to get organized.
The kids had to finish the school year online and Katrina had to work from home. So, all four of us are crammed into our apartment – all of us competing for a quiet space to conduct our work. Only our dog was happy with all four of us home all the time. But frankly, I was going nuts!
And then I remembered! I am connected with family and friends back home on social media. So, I turned to my apps for a word of hope. One of the most painful things I think I ever experienced was watching the way my family and friends went at each other on social media first about the pandemic and then the presidential election. I couldn’t believe comments, posts, and the sniping.
But what really hurt me was the way my parish community turned on each other. I wonder why it was more unsettling for me to see my parish turn on each other than it was to see other family and friends. Well, the first reading provided me with some insight.
In Paul’s letter, he calls Timothy “son.” Now, of course, Timothy was not his biological son. So why is Paul, who’s probably not much older than Timothy at the time, calling him son? It’s a bit odd, isn’t it? Well, there’s an overarching theme in Paul’s letters. He acknowledges tine and again that he was a really bad, dude. In today’s reading, he calls himself a blasphemer! Now that is a powerful language for a guy who was a zealous and devout Jew to say – to describe his life as blasphemous. Radical!
But Jesus saved him. And that experience of being saved was like being born again. And for Paul and the early Christian community, that meant something very specific. It meant being born again into a new family. For Paul, that family was the church – the Christian community. That’s why Paul can look at Timothy, and say, Son, because they were part of the same family.
Now the downside of family, of course, is that we all know how to push each other’s buttons. How many family gatherings can get out of hand if we don’t set some rules? What is that all about? Well in today’s Gospel, Jesus suggests we’re all too eager to point out the splinter in someone’s eye. It doesn’t matter if you have a plank in your eye, as long as I can make a snipping comment about the splinter in your eye!
I think Paul would say that the way he lived his life before his salvation, he walked around with a huge plank in his eye. And he was literally pulling the Christian family apart. You see, that’s what happens when we snipe at each other or make passive-aggressive comments at each other about politics or the pandemic or whatever you think the Pope is doing wrong, we tear our family apart. What’s worse is that people around you – innocent bystanders – overhear the snipping and it creates deeper tears.
Of course, we all can’t agree on everything! So rather than tearing each other down, we should agree to disagree – agree that we all have our own planks in our eye that require attention – and then go share a meal or a coffee or beer with each other.
Homework! Nourished by the Word of God and the Eucharist, I encourage you to reflect on the following two questions.
First, ask yourself how you can make amends with people you might have offended over this past year and a half?
Second, rather than tearing the family apart, help the Church meet people where they are and commit to walking with them on their spiritual journey.
I think doing our homework will help us be the intentional disciples we are called to be! Do you got it? Do you get it? Good! In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. +Amen!
Image: Diverse Community. Artist Unknown. PNG.
Bibliography/Suggested Readings:
1. Gadenz, Pablo T. The Gospel of Luke. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2018. Kindle.
2. Montague, George T. SM. First and Second Timothy, Titus. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2008. Kindle.
Catechism References http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm:
1. Jesus as Savior God: 594
2. The two ways: 1696, 1970
3. Mercy: 1846-48
4. Ignorance: 1860
5. Fruits of grace: 2005
Friday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091021.cfm
Lectionary: 441
Reading I
1 Timothy 1:1-2, 12-14
Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our savior
and of Christ Jesus our hope,
to Timothy, my true child in faith:
grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father
and Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am grateful to him who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord,
because he considered me trustworthy
in appointing me to the ministry.
I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and an arrogant man,
but I have been mercifully treated
because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief.
Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant,
along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Responsorial
Psalm 16:1b-2a and 5, 7-8, 11
R. (see 5) You are my inheritance, O Lord.
Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, “My Lord are you.”
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
Alleluia
See John 17:17b, 17a
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Your word, O Lord, is truth;
consecrate us in the truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Luke 6:39-42
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?
How can you say to your brother,
‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’
when 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 in your brother’s eye.”