It is easy to miss the qualities of humility in someone we know. That person and we can be so busy as to miss it or take it for granted. It might also seem like something else. It is not surprising that genuine humility is more accessible to our senses and our memories when someone’s life among us has come to a close.
“No disciple is superior to the teacher.” Luke 6: 40
Today’s reading from Sirach tells us what Jesus confirms. Paul’s first Letter to the Corinthians tells them and us what ultimate victory awaits those who take the word, life, death and resurrection of Jesus seriously.
And to take them seriously is not without risk, but certainly not without promise! As I alluded to the desire to find “the true” in this space last week, our readings from Scripture this week proclaim that such truth is not primarily for the sake of this world’s sense of justice, but for the sake of living fully in Him who is just, and by whose death and resurrection we are justified.
The image of recognizing the beam in our own eye before hoping to find and remove the speck in another’s eye and the admonition that it will be out of a heart where goodness has been stored that goodness will be spoken are very familiar. The risk is that they become faded cover in the background rather than vibrant color and texture in the ground on which we stand and choose to speak and to act.
God chooses to speak to us, and through us, in all times and circumstances! The risk in hearing is to trust that God also grants us the grace to listen, to interpret into our lives, and to share in the planting, the growing, and the harvesting of Life all around us!