Liturgical Reflection for 8th Ordinary Sunday in Year C

We must be careful when choosing whom to follow lest we stumble into a pit alongside our blind guide. A corollary is that we have no business trying to guide others unless we ourselves can see clearly.

Jesus, however, does not intend for us to go through life blindly accepting everything that we see or hear. He indicates that there is such a thing as proper discernment. We are surrounded by all sorts of thinking and actions. There is a need to be able to discern what to emulate and what to reject. Problems arise, however, when our discerning turns self-righteous and when we fail to acknowledge that we, too, are sinners.

It is easy to see faults in others, much easier than casting an inquisitive and skeptical eye toward ourselves and our many sins. Unless we do this, we are indeed blind, and incapable of leading the likewise blind to anything resembling salvation for we cannot see it ourselves.

Sin is a disorienting force, for not only does it lead us away from the light of God, but it likewise hampers our own abilities to discern right and wrong. The more we commit a sin, the harder it becomes to think that sin is bad for us.

So long as we indulge in sin, we shall not effectively spread the Gospel nor clearly seek our own salvation. Only  when we look within ourselves, see the rot which has befallen our hearts, and purge this wickedness from our souls then can we begin to see truly what is before us. When we renounce the actions and works of the enemy, our eyes will be opened to the glory of a better life to come.

The principle is that our words and works reflect accurately the condition of our spiritual heart. Our words and works make it clear what is in our hearts. Just as a good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit, so also a good person produces good and an evil person evil. This is no coincidence. Our actions are an outward expression of our inward being. It is “out of the good treasure of the heart” that the good person produces good and “out of evil treasure of his heart” that the evil person produces evil.