By Fr. Ed Liptak, SDB
‘Be careful,’ for your speech betrays who you are. Note the way someone talks. Wise advice comes from Sirach: “One’s speech discloses the bent of one’s mind,” or “Praise no one before he speaks, for it is then that people are tested.” If one’s speech is forever dotted with “I, Me, My, Mine” that person is probably self-centered. The Psalm today agrees. “It is good to give thanks to the Lord.” But, if one is incapable of ever thanking God, that person also thinks of himself as the center of all things. But do be careful! Apply all this to yourself. What kind of person are YOU?
If we imagine how virtuous, how righteous, how good we are, no matter how high an opinion of self we may cling to, St. Paul offers sound counsel: “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory [over evil] through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Truly wise persons allow Jesus to be so central to life that they recognize Him, not self, as a font of goodness in all they say and do. Paul urges, “My beloved brothers and sisters, be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” You are heaven-bound. Goodness must be humble to be true, and in Jesus is our way of being good, but humble.
When Jesus speaks, what does He say about Himself? Today’s Gospel shows that He is one who knows well the human nature He shares with us. He sees how lacking, how blind, we can be and, therefore much in need of a teacher. He knows how pridefully we tend to judge others by our own standards, thinking highly of ourselves and critically of others. He cautions that it is far better to improve ourselves and not worry about how lacking or evil others might be.
This latter human tendency must be very bad, for we know that Jesus has also said, “Do not judge, lest you be judged yourselves; for it is with the same judgment with which you have judged others that you will be judged.” Jesus looks to the future. He does so because he reveals Himself to be of two Kingdoms: earth and heaven. He is our guide to the Kingdom above. It is for Him to judge.
“Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.”
(Responsorial Psalm)