Daily Gospel Reflection
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March 3, 2019
Jesus told his disciples a parable,
“Can a blind person guide a blind person?
Will not both fall into a pit?
No disciple is superior to the teacher;
but when fully trained,
every disciple will be like his teacher.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye,
but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?
How can you say to your brother,
‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’
when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye?
You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first;
then you will see clearly
to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.
“A good tree does not bear rotten fruit,
nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.
For every tree is known by its own fruit.
For people do not pick figs from thornbushes,
nor do they gather grapes from brambles.
A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good,
but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil;
for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Whether or not you’ve read Luke’s Gospel in full, you’ve probably heard Jesus’ scathing rebuke of hypocrisy: Why do we focus more on the “splinter” in someone else’s eye than the “wooden beam” in our own? Does Jesus really mean we can never point out anyone else’s mistakes?
As someone who has pursued a vocation in teaching—high school English and Latin—this Gospel is especially challenging. Teaching will always entail correcting translation errors and pointing out areas of growth in essays about Gatsby or Beloved. But not because I’m perfect. As Jesus said, the beam is there.
Instead, I reconcile my job with Jesus’ words by seeing the beauty in the exchange of critical feedback. I make it clear that my corrections and comments come from a place of solidarity—of knowing exactly how it felt to have that same splinter and wanting my students to be able to see more clearly. “I see your splinter because I’ve been there, and I’ve got more work to do myself.” It’s not that we can’t point out other’s mistakes, it’s that we can only do so in community with others, in recognition that we are all blind, just blind to different things.
For instance, one of my juniors writes beautifully, arrestingly, from the heart. I’ve confessed to her that despite the hundreds of pages of analytical essays I’ve written, I shy away from creative writing. I have a beam there, which she is helping to remove. In turn, she is more willing to let me point out her “splintery” topic sentences. We are in community with one another, as teachers and learners. In the community of Jesus’ disciples, we are called to be aware of our shortcomings, but pointing fingers must be replaced by helping hands.
Prayer
Good and gracious Father, you invite us to contemplate the mystery of our lives. In doing so, we see how you nurture us, challenge us, and help us grow. We are trees capable of producing both good and rotten fruit. In your wisdom, shape us so that we might be a source of love for others. Stretch and embolden us so that others might find rest in our shade. Guide us so that our thoughts, words, and deeds might provide nourishment to others. And in the moments when our spirit fails, give us strength to rise again, so that we may be true disciplines of Christ, our teacher in all things, in whose name we pray.
Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Katharine Drexel voluntarily stepped beyond her privileged upper-class life in Philadelphia to encounter and heal the suffering she saw in America. She is the second American-born Catholic saint.
She was born 1858 to a family of wealth—her father was an investment banker, and her uncle founded Drexel University. Her mother died giving birth to Katharine’s sister, and the girls were sent to live with an aunt and uncle for two years. They returned to her father’s home when he re-married.
Despite their wealth, Katharine’s parents did not allow their girls a sheltered life. The family traveled widely, and Katharine saw much of the emerging American nation as well as Europe. Three days a week, their home was opened to feed the hungry and serve the poor with clothing and rental assistance. If they heard of a widow who was too proud to come to them, they quietly sought her out to offer their support.
When Katharine’s stepmother fell ill from a terminal illness, Katharine nursed her, and began to understand that no fortune could save a person from pain or death.
She was particularly moved by the plight of Native Americans and African Americans, and on a trip to Europe, she had the chance to greet Pope Leo XIII. She asked him to send missionaries to help Native Americans in Wyoming. He replied, “Why don’t you become a missionary?” This response shocked her and helped her open up new possibilities as to how to spend her life.
She very easily could have married, but after discernment and spiritual direction, she decided to dedicate her life to serving Native American and African American people. Her decision made big news in the elite social circles of Philadelphia; newspapers wondered how she could walk away from married life and an inheritance worth more than $100 million in today's dollars—to serve poor people.
Katharine founded a religious order of nuns—the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament—to serve people marginalized by American society. They began with a boarding school in Santa Fe, and by 1942, they were running schools and mission centers for black children in thirteen states and ministering to Native Americans in fifteen states. In 1915, Katharine opened Xavier University in New Orleans, the first Roman Catholic university in the nation that accepted black students.
Segregationists were not happy with her efforts and burned a school in Pennsylvania. A stick of dynamite was discovered at another mission site. In 1922, the Ku Klux Klan threatened a school the sisters had opened in Beaumont, Texas, but a few days later, a severe thunderstorm devastated the area and tore down the Klan’s headquarters there.
When she was 77, Katharine suffered a heart attack and was forced to retire. Many thought the foundress was near the end of her life, but she lived for nearly two more decades. This last period of life was intensely focused on prayer and meditation.
St. Katharine Drexel was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000. Along with her story, the illustration featured today is used by high school students who come to campus for a summer conference with the Notre Dame Vision program.
St. Katharine Drexel, who gave her great wealth to serve America's marginalized—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Katharine Drexel is an illustration by Julie Lonneman, who holds exclusive rights to the further distribution and publication of her art. Used with permission.