Friday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
(I Corinthians 9:16-19; Luke 6:39-42)
Alexander Pope was an
English, Catholic poet of the eighteenth century. The lines of his poetry usually form rhyming
couplets that are easy to remember.
Perhaps his most famous lines relate to today’s gospel. Pope writes:
|
A little learning is a dangerous
thing; |
|
Drink deep, or taste not the
Pierian spring: |
Disciples, Jesus says, must learn well or they will be blind
guides who lead their followers to ruin.
He is insisting that they must listen carefully to what he teaches. They can ask questions. But the purpose of their
questioning should be to understand and not to refute.
We must do so as well.
We live in a time of, what philosophers call, “deconstructionism.” People, finding problems in the way thing are,
want to tear down working structures. Even Christianity is found hopelessly
wanting. That is like putting a log in
your eye. We should critique society
with the gospel in hand. But we must keep
in mind that the gospel has been interpreted in various ways at different
junctures of history. We must endeavor
to seek its truth and apply it to our times.
The gospel puts us in touch with our friend and Lord. He is like a compass that keeps us on course
in an often-tempestuous world.
