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Tuesday 9th Week OT
Diocese of Little Rock
June 2, 2015
Scripture
as Human ++++++++++++++++++++++++
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So
often the Gospels and scriptures in general demonstrate how rooted they are in
genuinely human people and situations
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They
do that by their honest depiction of the human heart and its complexity
TOBIT AS HUMAN ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Yesterday
our first picture of Tobit indicated a compassionate and even heroically
observant Jew
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We
saw this in his concern for the poor and for the sacred duty of burying the
dead
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Today,
after some years of blindness resulting from what we would call a freak
accident, he’s pictured in a sharp dispute with his wife
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Perhaps
his blindness has led him to imagine that he cannot see or be sure of, and he
seriously misunderstands his wife Anna
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In
response to his anger, she throws up several unkind phrases of her own
OURSELVES AS HUMAN +++++++++++++++++++++++
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It
isn’t so important that we are able to name all these defects of character as
it is important that we recognize ourselves in some of this
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So
often we misunderstand and judge prematurely
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We
lose our equanimity under adversity
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We
say bitter things we quickly regret but which are hard to obliterate
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And,
of course, in the Pharisees and Herodians who try to ensnare Jesus, we see another
unlovely aspect of the human heart which may also be familiar to us
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A
hypocritical effort to destroy or cut down another
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The
Gospel selection offers us a moment to reflect on how complicated and twisting
are the movements of our heart, our desires, and our mind
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How
much we need self-knowledge and, as a corollary, how much we need compassion
and understanding for the hearts of our fellow himan beings!
CONCLUSION ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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We
are all in this together; we all need forgiveness and encouragement!
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