Removing the Plank

Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

As we celebrate Mass today we have heavy hearts over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Only a few weeks ago the new Ukrainian Catholic Bishop for Australia, Mykola Bychok, visited Tasmania. We were, in fact, the first diocese he visited as he travels across Australia visiting his people. On the following Sunday he celebrated the Liturgy with the Ukrainian Catholic Community in Moonah. Just days ago I attended a meeting of bishops in Sydney and Bishop Bychok was there, and we prayed with him for the situation in his country.

We are conscious of the great suffering that the people of the Ukraine are now undergoing. I invite you to join with me in praying that peace may be restored and the freedom of the people be respected. Let us hold the people of the Ukraine in our hearts at this Mass today.

The Gospel which we have just read offers us a number of teachings of the Lord. The graphic image of the splinter in the eye of one person and the plank in the eye of the other is an arresting reminder of our human propensity to find fault in others and ignore the failings in our own lives.

For each of us this parable offers an examination of conscience. How ready we are to judge others, usually readily finding fault? Just before this reading the Lord taught: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” (Lk 6:37)

The judgement the Lord is referring to here is judgement that is hasty and superficial, harsh and unforgiving, self-righteous and hypocritical. Such judgement presumes guilt and condemns the person often without knowing the full story.

In the harsh world of the news and social media we so often observe a readiness to attack and condemn people. People’s faults are exposed and they become subject to outrage and condemnation. They experience a flood of criticism which often overwhelms and can lead to a collapse of their dignity and hope.

The world around has become so hard and so ready to condemn. It is so ready to report the failings of people and to hold them up for public scrutiny. It is so ready to report fault and failing, often without examining the causes or circumstances. We have become a society of outrage and shrill condemnation. We have lost the art of respectful exchange of views.

As the Christian faith recedes from the public arena, so it becomes unforgiving and hard.

But we are not exempt from the tendency to stand in judgement on our fellows. Pope Francis has mentioned the vice of gossip on a number of occasions. He recently said that it is “a plague worse than COVID”. He said, “when we see a mistake, a fault, a slip, in that brother or sister, usually the first thing we do is to go and recount it to others – to gossip”.

This is not the way of the Christian. The Christian attitude towards others should be firstly inspired by mercy. The recognition of our own sinfulness and an honest awareness of our human frailty can lead us not to stand in judgement over others.

The well-known phrase “there but for the grace of God go I” expresses the Christian’s humble awareness of his or her own frailty and the unwillingness to condemn the other.  The phrase is attributed to the sixteenth century English evangelical preacher, John Bradford (c1510–1555). He is said to have uttered – “There but for the grace of God, goes John Bradford”, when seeing criminals being led to the scaffold.

The Christian is aware that it is God, who sees into the heart, who is the One who ultimately judges. We, not knowing what lies within the heart of another, should refrain from passing judgement on the words or actions we witness in another.

Our attitude to others is to be inspired by Christian love.

St Paul, in the well-known passage in his Letter to the Corinthians, reminds us of the qualities of love: “Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful”. St Paul then adds, “Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes”. (I Cor 13:4-7) We take no pleasures in other people’s sins, and are always ready to excuse.

Later in the Gospel reading the Lord says, “A good man draws what is good from the store of goodness in his heart”.  When we examine ourselves as to whether we fall into judging and condemning others, we explore the terrain of our hearts to see whether we can find there the necessary reserves of love, mercy and compassion. If these reserves are drying up we can turn to the Lord who is full of mercy and compassion. We humbly ask that our hearts be refreshed by divine love. We can ask for this grace as we come to Holy Communion today.

With hearts renewed with love and mercy we will not judge or condemn but be ready to excuse and forgive.

Archbishop Julian Porteous

Sunday, 27 February 2022