Friday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

“The Blind Leading the Blind” 
by  Pieter van der Heyden c. 1561

 Readings for Friday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time [1]

Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]

Readings and Commentary:[3]

 

Reading 1: 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22b-27

 Brothers and sisters:

If I preach the Gospel, this is no reason for me to boast,

for an obligation has been imposed on me,

and woe to me if I do not preach it!

If I do so willingly, I have a recompense,

but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship.

What then is my recompense?

That, when I preach, I offer the Gospel free of charge

so as not to make full use of my right in the Gospel.

 

Although I am free in regard to all,

I have made myself a slave to all

so as to win over as many as possible.

I have become all things to all, to save at least some.

All this I do for the sake of the Gospel,

so that I too may have a share in it.

 

Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race,

but only one wins the prize?

Run so as to win.

Every athlete exercises discipline in every way.

They do it to win a perishable crown,

but we an imperishable one.

Thus I do not run aimlessly;

I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing.

No, I drive my body and train it,

for fear that, after having preached to others,

I myself should be disqualified.

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Commentary on 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22b-27

 St. Paul continues to exhort the church at Corinth to follow his example. He begins this selection with a restatement of his own imperative call to proclaim the Gospel as a “divine compulsion.” His reward for responding to that call is that “ [he] too may have a share in it.” The Apostle then uses the analogy of an athlete in training to describe how he is compelled to discipline himself to the task of evangelization, stating that, in his success, he will win an “imperishable” crown of victory.

CCC: 1 Cor 9:5-18 2122; 1 Cor 9:19 876; 1 Cor 9:22 24

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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 84:3, 4, 5-6, 12

 R. (2) How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

 

My soul yearns and pines

for the courts of the LORD.

My heart and my flesh

cry out for the living God.

R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

 

Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow a nest

in which she puts her young—

Your altars, O LORD of hosts,

my king and my God!

R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

 

Blessed they who dwell in your house!

continually they praise you.

Blessed the men whose strength you are!

their hearts are set upon the pilgrimage.

R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

 

For a sun and a shield is the LORD God;

grace and glory he bestows;

The LORD withholds no good thing

from those who walk in sincerity.

R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

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Commentary on Ps 84:3, 4, 5-6, 12

 Psalm 84 is a song of praise and thanksgiving sung by pilgrims anxious to experience the joy of the divine presence as they go to meet the Lord. They believe he is most present at their place of worship (the temple in Jerusalem). The hope of the prize that awaits them shares the image of the victorious athlete proposed by St. Paul (1 Corinthians 9:24).

 CCC: Ps 84:3 1770

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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.”

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Commentary on Lk 6:39-42

St. Luke continues Jesus’ dialogue from the “Sermon on the Plain” concerning the judgment of others. Taking his disciples aside, he tells them that, in time, they will assume his role in proclaiming the Gospel (“but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher”). The exhortation that follows is not intended to say that they should not notice the failings of others; that would be inconsistent with Matthew 7:5,6. Rather be “against passing judgment in a spirit of arrogance, forgetful of one's own faults.”[4]

 “A person whose sight is distorted sees things as deformed, even though in fact they are not deformed. St. Augustine gives this advice: ‘Try to acquire those virtues which you think your brothers lack, and you will no longer see their defects, because you will not have them yourselves’ (‘Enarrationes In Psalmos’, 30, 2, 7). In this connection, the saying, ‘A thief thinks that everyone else is a thief’ is in line with this teaching of Jesus.” [5]

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Reflection:

 Heavenly Father, we humbly pray that those suffering from the coronavirus be returned quickly to full health by the power of your Son’s healing presence, and those in fear be calmed through the Holy Spirit.

 In Christ’s name we pray. – Amen.

 When we take St. Paul’s discussion about his own call and place it with Jesus’ exhortation of his disciples about their spiritual growth, we get a pretty good picture of how we are supposed to take the Lord’s message of love to others.  St. Paul sees clearly that his call is not some casual pastime intended to give him something to do at his leisure.  Rather, it is a divine compulsion, driving him to reach out to everyone he meets.  In the omitted verses of the reading from the selection presented today, the apostle explains how he attempts to meet Jews as a fellow Jew, and Gentiles as a citizen of Rome, so he can establish a rapport with them and bring them to Christ.

 St. Paul speaks of his own reward for responding to this compulsion using the analogy of an athlete victorious in a race. (The use of this analogy would have been appropriate in that his audience would have been very familiar with the Greek gymnasia and the nearby Isthmian games.)  Both the compulsion and the reward he speaks about would have been shared by the disciples listening to the Lord speaking about judgment of others.  The natural response to being picked as a special friend of Jesus (an apostle as St. Paul calls himself) would be to become rather proud of that distinction.  This would be especially true when they heard Jesus say that, while no student was greater than their teacher, they would soon learn all that their teacher could tell them, and be bound by his mission.  That seems to summarize the meaning behind “No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.”

 To counterbalance God’s call to proclaim the Gospel with authority, Jesus reminds the disciples of their own frailty and imperfections.  While they will be given the authority to bind and loose as a consequence of their selection as apostles, they must never become arrogant in that role.  The Lord even makes it clearer asking them: “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?”  Clearly they (and we) must never forget that, not only have we sinned, but because we are held to a higher standard than those who do not know the Lord, our sins have a much greater weight when we come before Christ when he sits on the judgment seat.

 Combining St. Paul’s divine compulsion with the Lord’s exhortation against arrogance flowing from our special friendship with Jesus, the model that best describes our evangelical role is one like the athlete- coach who, at the same time, must train for their own race, while helping others by word and example train for their races as well.

 There is an important element that shapes us in this entire effort to conform ourselves to Christ (forgive the long quote):

 

“Our habit of judging others really entrenches us in the impossibility of our receiving God’s, or anyone else’s forgiveness – not indeed because God does not give it, but because we have ceased little by little to think of ourselves as at all needing forgiveness.  We cannot habitually define ourselves as judges and at the same time really believe in our deeper identity as sinners needing pardon.  We may use the prescribed formulas of contrition, but our inward habit keeps us from really believing what we mouth.  In this case, God will have to judge us adversely, because we have put ourselves beyond his sphere of forgiveness. By refusing to judge others, I am training myself in the divine art of forgiveness. Refusal to judge does not leave a vacuum, because where my neighbor is involved I am never indifferent: either I judge or I forgive, which means that either I exclude or I love.” [6]

 

Our prayer today is that we become effective coaches.  We pray that though our words and example we will effectively serve our own divine compulsion to proclaim the Gospel and in doing so win the imperishable crown spoken of by St. Paul.

 In this strange year where many of us will not be able to receive the Blessed Sacrament or celebrate as a community in our houses of worship, we must be prepared to receive spiritual communion in prayer:

 My Jesus,

I believe that You

are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.

I love You above all things,

and I desire to receive You into my soul.

Since I cannot at this moment

receive You sacramentally,

come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You.

 

Amen.

 Pax

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[1] The picture is “The Blind Leading the Blind” by  Pieter van der Heyden c. 1561.

[2] S.S. Commemoratio

[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL).  This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.

[4] NAB footnote on Matthew 7:1.

[5] The Navarre Bible, “Gospels and Acts,” Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002, p. 95.

[6] Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word Volume I, Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, © 1996 p. 290.