2nd
August Trinity
“Do
not judge your fellow man, so that your judgment will not someday be
visited
upon yourself. For with the judgment that you pronounce you also speak your own
judgment, and the measure by which you measure will be the measuring rod for
your own self. Why do you look to the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do
not become aware of the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your
brother: “Wait, I will pull the splinter out of your eye”--but mark it well,
there is a log in your own eye. You hypocrite, first remove the log from your
own eye, and then you may be able to see how to remove the splinter from your
brother’s eye.
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| Giusto |
Do
not give what is holy to dogs, nor throw pearls to the swine, for these will
tread them underfoot, and then turn upon you and tear you also to pieces.
Ask
from the heart and it will be given to your heart; seek and you will find;
knock and it will be opened to you; for he who asks in uprightness will
receive; he who earnestly seeks will find; he who knocks, to him will be
opened. Or are there among you those who when his son asks for bread would give
him a stone; or when he asks for a fish would offer him a snake? If then you
who in spite of wickedness know how to give good things to your children, how
much more goodness will your Father in the heavens give to those who earnestly
ask him for it.
All
that you want that men should do for you, do first for them. This is the true
content of the Law and the Prophets.
Walk
through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the path is easy which leads
to ruin [the abyss] and many are they who walk it. But narrow is the gate and
difficult the path that leads to Life, and it is only the individual who finds
it.
Be
on your guard against false prophets of healing. They come to you in the
garments of peaceful lambs, but inwardly are rapacious wolves. You shall
recognize them by the fruits of their deeds. Never will you harvest grapes from
a thorn bush, nor figs from thistles. Every noble tree brings forth good fruit,
but a wild tree only forms unusable fruit. A noble tree cannot bear bad fruit,
and a wild tree cannot form good fruit. A tree that does not bring forth good
fruit will be cut down and put in the fire. Therefore, recognize them by the
fruits of their deeds.
Not
everyone who addresses me with “Lord! Lord! “ can be taken up into the kingdom;
only he who accomplishes the will of my Father in the heavens. In the future,
when the light of God breaks over the earthly darkness, many will call to me.
They will say, “Lord! Lord! have we not worked in advance for your revelation?
Have we not driven out spirits of destruction in honor of you? Have we not
gathered multiple powers for your word?”
Then
I will freely say to them, ‘I do not know you. My paths are not your paths.
Depart from me, for you serve the forces of chaos [the downfall of the world].’
Everyone
who hears such words from me and acts accordingly will be like a man who wisely
built his house on bedrock. The clouds burst, the waves rose, the winds blew
and beat against that house. But it did not totter, for it was founded upon the
rock.
He, however, who hears such words from me
and does not act accordingly is like a man who foolishly builds his house upon
sand. The rain comes down, the floods rise, the winds blow and beat upon the
house, and it collapses with a great crash.”
When Jesus had
completed saying this, the people were greatly moved, for he spoke to them out
of spiritual authority, as if the powers of creation themselves spoke out of
him, and not like their teachers of the law [canon-lawyers].
2nd August
Trinity
August 4, 2013
Matthew 7: 1 – 14
In last week’s reading, we
saw how Peter caught the lightning flash of Christ behind the mask of Jesus, the
humble itinerant teacher and healer. Such a lightning flash of insight sometimes
happens to us. It can deepen our awareness and teach us to change our way of
thinking and acting.
With insight we can come
to see behind the mask that our fellow human beings seem to wear. We may come
to realize that it is our own judgment of them that has placed a mask over
them. And so we may learn to become more compassionately discerning.
With insight we may also
come to see our own enthusiasm for sharing what we know and have discovered. At
the same time, we may realize that we have been scattering spiritual treasures
at the feet of those who are not yet ready to take them up. We may have caused
them to reject and ridicule what we offer. And so we may need to learn to become
more compassionately discerning.
In our own lives we may
think we know what we need and want. Despite what we ask for, despite what we
think we want, we may later realize that what actually happened, what we
actually got, was something much deeper, much better. Insight may show us that
we may have been asking for stones and the Father gave us bread. And so we have
come to learn that the Father is compassionately discerning.
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