Word Wide Open: The Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C) - 2/27/22

First Reading (Sirach 27:4-7)

A reading from the Book of Sirach.

When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear;

so do one’s faults when one speaks.

As the test of what the potter molds is in the furnace,

so in tribulation is the test of the just.

The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had;

so too does one’s speech disclose the bent of one’s mind.

Praise no one before he speaks,

for it is then that people are tested.

The word of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Is there anything that stuck out to you from this reading? Why does how we speak reveal our character?


Second Reading (1 Corinthians 15:54-58)

A reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians.

Brothers and sisters:

When this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility

and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality,

then the word that is written shall come about:

            Death is swallowed up in victory.

                        Where, O death, is your victory?

                        Where, O death, is your sting?

The sting of death is sin,

and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God who gives us the victory

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters,

be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord,

knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

The word of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Is there anything that stuck out to you from this reading? Why does sin bring about death? 

Gospel (Luke 6:39-45)

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke.

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.”

 

The Gospel of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Is there anything that stuck out to you from this Gospel reading? What is good fruit? How do we produce "good fruit" in our lives? How can we be like our teacher?