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Friday – Twenty-third Week – OT2
Readings: I Cor 9:16-19, 22-27; Lk 6:39-42.
1/ First Reading: NAB 1 Corinthians 9:16 If I preach the gospel, this is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it! 17 If I do so willingly, I have a recompense, but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship. 18 What then is my recompense? That, when I preach, I offer the gospel free of charge so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. 19 Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some. 23 All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it. 24 Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win. 25 Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. 26 Thus I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing. 27 No, I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.
2/ Gospel: NAB Luke 6:39 And he told them a parable, “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? 40 No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher. 41 Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? 42 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.
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I. THEME: The art of leadership
Leadership isn’t easy; it is an art. First, a leader must know the purpose of what he and others aim at. The goal already existed; a leader doesn’t need to invent the goal. This goal must always be before his eyes when he decides to do anything; if not, it is a waste of time because he doesn’t know why he is doing his tasks for. Secondly, he must know the way how to attain the purpose. There can be different ways, but a good leader must find an effective and agreeable with his own and his follower’s talents.
Today readings emphasize on the religious leadership but can still be appliable for other leaderships. In the first reading, St. Paul reflected on his task of preaching the Gospel. He realized that it is a duty which God charged him to do, not an option. So, he must find a way how he can benefit from this task and make his preaching effectively. In the Gospel, Jesus listed out two important qualities of a leader. First, he must know where he heads to. Secondly, he must be good before he can help people to be good.
II. ANALYSIS:
1/ Reading I: St. Paul was charged to preach the Gospel.
1.1/ Preaching the Gospel is a duty: The Damascus event deeply marked in St. Paul’s soul so that he always comes back to this event to evaluate his tasks. In that event, he was on his way to persecute the faithful, but Jesus completely changed his life by choosing him as a preacher of the Gospel to the Gentiles. This is the reason for his declaration in today passage: “If I preach the Gospel, this is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it! If I do so willingly, I have a recompense, but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship.”
1.2/ How to profit from the preaching of the Gospel: Since Paul didn’t ask to preach the Gospel, but was charged to do it, he must find other way to be benefited from this task. He refused privileges for a preacher; for example, to be fed by the faithful. Instead, he both preached the Gospel and labored to earn his living. Moreover, he also eagerly sacrificed all things so that the Gospel might extend to all places.
1.3/ Preaching the Gospel with a purpose:
(1) To save others’ soul: Preaching the Gospel isn’t meant to say what a preacher knew and let the hearers do what they want to do. The effect preaching must lead to repentance and to believe in God. A preacher must know their hearers’ good and bad habits. For example, the Corinthians. Paul knew they are very open to welcome something good and new; but they also are affected by their immoral life. Therefore, he must do a research and come up with an effective way to preach to them so that not only he can convince them to believe in Christ but also to persuade them to correct their bad habits to accommodate the Gospel’s demands, as he said, “Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible. To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some. All this I do for the sake of the Gospel, so that I too may have a share in it.”
(2) To save one’s own soul: What good if a preacher can save others but can’t save himself? This must be a constant reflection for all preachers; they must find a way to save themselves first. Paul also worried about this, “No, I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.”
2/ Gospel: A leader must be good before he can help others to be good.
2.1/ Two important qualities of a leader:
(1) A leader must know the way: Jesus forewarned the danger of a blind leader, “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?” Therefore, when we choose a leader, we must choose a wise leader. If we neglect this duty, we shall have to suffer the same consequence with him. A blind leader who doesn’t know he is blind can be more dangerous, he shall blame his followers for his failure.
(2) A leader must be good: Since the audience not only have two ears to hear, but they also have two eyes to see, so a leader is required to preach not only by words but also by deeds. In order for his preaching to be effective, a leader needs to show what he preaches with what he does, and good deeds are easy to attract the audience more than a leader’s wise words. However, words also have their limited effects as Jesus taught us, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice” (Mt 23:2-3).
2.2/ The need to correct oneself first:
(1) No one can give what they don’t have; no one can correct others when he also has the same sin. Especially when his sin is bigger and heavier than the sin of the one, he wants to correct, as Jesus said in today passage, “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.”
Before one can correct other, he must correct himself first. When one doesn’t often examine his conscience, he has a feeling that he is better than others; this feeling leads him to criticize and to correct others’ sin. He must know that even he can hide his sins from others, he can’t hide them from God who knows all of his sins.
(2) In order for the correction to be effective, a leader needs to know others’ good and bad habits, the circumstance which leads them to sin and must be patient to correct. Again, the examiner of conscience helps a leader to know how hard he must try to overcome his sin. This shall help him to understand others and to be patient in his correction of them.
III. APPLICATION IN LIFE:
– Every one of us carries in ourselves good and bad habits. To develop an individual, a family or a community, a leader needs to recognize all these habits so that he knows how to use their good habits in building up the community, and also to be cautious and to correct the bad habits so that every individual and community can get better every day.
– Before we can know and correct others, we need to know and to correct ourselves first. The frequent examine of our conscience helps to recognize our sins and the progress of self-correction to be better shall help us to understand bad habits of those who we are responsible and have patience to correct them.
– The progress of leadership needs to be in order as follows: First, we need to recognize everyone has good and bad habits. Next, we should recognize our own good and bad habits. Finally, we must use others’ good habits and be patient to correct their bad habits.