OMELIE / Omelie EN

02 mar 2025

02/03/2025 – 8th Sunday in O.T. – year C

02/03/2025 – 8^th Sunday in O.T. – year C

Reading 1 SIR 27,4-7 Psalm 91 Reading 2 1COR 15,54-58 Gospel LK 6,39-45

The words of the first reading are simple and convincing. The author uses images that are easily understandable to help us exercise our discernment. Here is how he begins: “When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear; so do one’s faults when one speaks”. Not everything that shows up within us and not everything that shines around us is a gift from the Father: we must be able to distinguish using the light of God's Word among the things we see or hear, otherwise we will fall victim to deception and temptation. He says again: “Praise no one before he speaks, for it is then that people are tested”.

Jesus adds to the same imagery and uses it for His disciples’ benefit: a blind man guides another blind man; the one who has a sight impairment wants to correct the one who has only a small defect in his eyes, and the bad man wants to teach a lesson in goodness.

Who is the blind man? Blind is he who does not see God, blind is he who does not recognise Jesus the Son of God, blind is he who has not studied at the Lord’s school, and therefore does not know His will. Jesus’ disciple must be helped by one who has studied at the school of His Master. It is not enough to want to teach in order to be a teacher, one must first prepare oneself. You will be careful not to listen to everyone who teaches: you will first ascertain whether he has been trained at Jesus’ school.

We all find obstacles to see reality as it is, that is, as the Father sees it and wants it. If a brother weeps over a straw, and therefore needs help, we do God's work in helping him. We must, however, first of all make sure that we ourselves are not hindered by the ignorance of God's word, by prejudice, by a spirit of superiority or intolerance or anger or malice, or even by vainglory. And we too, in our need, must only seek help from those who have matured at the Lord’s school, that is, those who are humble, have learnt and are still learning from the Gospel and want to lead us to live the wisdom of the Gospel.

There are good men and bad men, that is, there are men who bring us closer to Jesus and men who draw us away from him. Which ones will we really be helped by? Which ones will we listen to? Certainly we will only listen to those who are close to Jesus and are able to bring us closer to Him: their word will also help us.

Those who stay away from the Lord cannot give us salvation, because the only saviour given by the Father is Jesus. We will not be deceived by appearances.

Good fruit only comes from good people, and good are the people who belong to the Lord and live as He has taught. We too, before helping others, will strengthen ourselves in our faith in Jesus and instruct ourselves using his Word.

St Paul provides us with another good reflection: “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” Sin, which dominates the world, is always a danger: it turns us from good people into bad ones! It comes from disobedience to the Law, the Word of God, and bears as its fruit spiritual death, distance from the Father and from Jesus. How to overcome it, how to be free from it? We will not only be careful to avoid sin, but we will continue to receive Jesus, our Lord and Master, in us. He has risen from the dead, and therefore we shall not be afraid, not even of death. Death, the fruit of sin, is rendered harmless by Jesus' resurrection. Therefore, we will remain steadfast and unshakeable in the risen Jesus, even if it costs us effort, an effort that will always be source of salvation. Hallelujah!