Friday, September 12, 2008

A speck in my eye

Today's Gospel features the comical image of the concerned person "helping" a neighbor get a speck out of his eye while oblivious to the beam in his own. St. Paul, in the first reading, recognizes the risk: "I drive my body and train it, lest, having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified." He knows that "if a blind person guides another blind person, they will both fall into a pit" (Gospel). Paul wants to "be like his teacher" (Gospel) in taking "the form of a slave" (Paul) "to save at least some" (first reading). This is what it means for Paul "to have a share in the Gospel" (first reading).

And Sr. Lorraine has drawn my attention to another situation in which we (by which I mean, my community's publishing house) are being told we have a speck in our eye... How typical of St. Paul to stir up controversy even long after he has entered into the full sharing of the Gospel! (As Sr. Lorraine says, "Get your banned books here!")

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

After reading your blog and Sr. Lorraine's point by point rebuttal of the St Paul book critic, the only logical conclusion that can be drawn is that St. Paul must be very proud of his daughters.

Unknown said...

Thank you for linning us to Sr. Lorraine's blog. I found it interesting, enlightening and very well written. I agree with your first comment above.
Just last night I had to write a similar response to a seeming hateful attach on Candidate Obama for his use of the bible in a speech condemning slavery, stoning children and how the Beatitudes might be problematic to the US State Department...stating that Jesus emphatically taught that we are to turn the other cheek...his point being that we have to very careful, even when reading Scripture...If we are too literal we loose the real meaning, but sometimes we have to take the Word for what it is...the Word of God...we have to learn to discern what is important and what is purely literary or personal opinion.
Let us all exult in the glory of the Holy Cross of Christ!
Father Fred, CMF