Readings: Sir. 27:4-7; Ps. 92; 1Cor.15:54-58; Luke 6:39-45
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.
LEARN TO REMOVE THE LOG OF PRIDE IN US BEFORE DELETING WITH THE SPECK OF WEAKNESS IN OTHERS
As humans, we are quick to always criticize and condemn other people. We are good at seeing people's faults and mistakes. But has it ever occurred to us that, while we were condemning other People’s faults, we suddenly realized that our own faults are just as many as theirs?
This ugly attitude is what Jesus is addressing in our Gospel passage today when he said: Why do you observe the speck in your brother’s eye and never notice the log in your own? How can you then say to your brother, “Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,” when you cannot see the log in your own eyes? Hypocrite! Take the log out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.
Here, Jesus is referring to that ugly attitude that the Pharisees and the Scribes, and indeed most of us and our so-called leaders today, have decided to embrace. For we have neglected the spirituality behind the natural human traditions and laws to follow the manyy ritual and routine traditions and laws we have created out of our own selfish desires.
Leaders who have the responsibility to lead, guide and teach the people have decided to embrace darkness and falsehood. And the greed, jealousy and wickedness in our hearts have blindfolded us and made us become blind leaders of the blind.
Hence, Jesus told us how we have failed to see the log in our eyes while seeking to remove the speck in other's. But what is this log in our eyes? It is the log of pride. Pride makes us forget who we are and claim who we are not. Pride makes us look down on people. Pride makes us blind. It makes us not look into our own lives to see how we can accommodate other people’s weaknesses. Little wonder pride is the first capital sin.
Therefore, we are called to humbly look into our lives and identify all those ugly attitudes of pride in us and get rid of them, so that we can humbly correct and accommodate other people’s speck of faults and weakness. Little wonder, in our first reading today, we are told that in a shaken sieve, the rubbish is left behind, and so, too, the defects of a man appear in his talk. For a man’s heart is known from his expressions and actions.
So we are called to look into our lives and examine our conscience before we begin to judge people. We must learn to accommodate other people’s weaknesses, opinions, and backgrounds. No doubt that this can be a very difficult thing to do, but this is what we are called to do and should be the right disposition for us to have. So, for this to be possible we must learn to avoid and die to the sin of pride and embrace humility.
This is what St. Paul is telling us in our second reading today when he said: When this perishable nature has put on imperishability, and when this mortal nature has put on immortality, then the words of scripture will come true: Death is swallowed up in victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and sin gets its power from the Law. So, let us thank God for giving us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear friends, today we are called to die to the self to rise in humility; we are called to look into our lives and examine ourselves to see those ugly attitudes in us that need to be corrected. We need to know if we are in any way behaving like blind leaders of the blind. Are we such leaders who only see the errors and weaknesses of others without looking into our own lives? We are called today to constantly examine our conscience to know what kind of attitude and judgement we give to people.
Hence, in any capacity we find ourselves we must learn to accommodate other people’s weaknesses and opinions, knowing that we also have our own ugly attitude that people have to accommodate. Therefore, we are called to take away our log of pride to humbly remove and accommodate the speck of faults and weaknesses in others. So let us cultivate the right disposition of heart that will make us accommodating, loving, forgiving and tolerant in our relationship with others to lead those entrusted to us safely towards the path of truth and eternal life.
LET US PRAY: Lord God, we are often ignorant of our ugly attitude of pride, which makes us always see the faults of others without looking into our own. Help us to realize that we need to take away the log of pride that makes us blind in order to humbly remove, correct and accommodate the faults and weaknesses of others. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a glorious Sunday celebration.
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