"How can you say to your neighbor, 'Friend, let me take this speck out of your eye,'

when you can't remove the log in your own?"

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊ 

Sirach 27:4-7

 When a sieve is shaken the dirt falls through;

So, too, the defects of a man are seen when he begins to speak.  The kiln tests the potter’s handiwork; a man is tested by his conversation.  A well-tended tree is shown by its fruits so a man’s feelings can be detected in what he says.  Praise no one before he has spoken, since this is the acid test.

 

Ps 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16

Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.

 

    ＊＊＊ 2nd Reading ＊＊＊

1 Corinthians 15:54-58

 When our perishable being puts on imperishable life, when our mortal being puts on immortality, the word of Scripture will be fulfilled: Death has been swallowed up by victory.   Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?

 Sin is the sting of death to kill, and the Law is what gives force to sin.   But give thanks to God who gives us the victory through Christ Jesus, our Lord.

 So then, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast and do not be moved. Improve constantly in the work of the Lord, knowing that with him your labor is not without fruit.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊  

Luke 6:39-45

 And Jesus offered this example, “Can a blind person lead another blind person? Surely both will fall into a ditch.   A disciple is not above the master; but when fully trained, he will be like the master.  

So why do you pay attention to the speck in your brother’s eye while you have a log in your eye and are not conscious of it?  How can you say to your neighbor: ‘Friend, let me take this speck out of your eye,’ when you can’t remove the log in your own? You hypocrite! First remove the log from your own eye and then you will see clearly enough to remove the speck from your neighbor’s eye.

 No healthy tree bears bad fruit, no poor tree bears good fruit.  And each tree is known by the fruit it bears: you don’t gather figs from thorns, or grapes from brambles.   Similarly the good person draws good things from the good stored in the heart, and an evil person draws evil things from the evil stored in the heart. For the mouth speaks from the fullness of the heart.

 

 Gospel Reflection：

Read:

The book of Sirach uses three analogies to draw our attention to the truth that our speech reveals our character. Using the imagery of tree and its fruits, Jesus confirms the wisdom of Sirach. Paul invites us to labor with Christ as Christ words, so that we produce good fruit.

Reflect:

Once a disciple came to Socrates ready to gossip about someone. Socrates stopped him and gave him a “triple filter test” about what he was going to say. “Are you sure that what you are going to tell me is true?”The disciple wasn’t sure.

“Is it good?” No, it wasn’t . “Is it useful?” He wasn’t sure. Socrates said: “If what you want to tell isn’t true, good or even useful, why should I hear it?”

When why should hear it?”

When we are tempted to speak ill of the other, it is good to apply this filter to our thought: “Is what I am going to speak really true, good, and useful?”If any one of the three conditions fails, we better keep our mouth shut, or still better, say a silent prayer for the other.

Pray:

“Lord, give me an appreciative heart so that I speak only words that build up the other.”

Act:

Reach out to a member of your family and say something authentically appreciative.