shadowboxing

1 corinthians 9:16-19,22-27; How lovely is your dwelling place ps 84; Lk 6:39-42

Today in the readings we have quite a mixture of things.

St. Paul is speaking of discipline and training, "Run as to win. Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. Thus, I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight as if i were shadowboxing. no, I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified."

Then we have Jesus speaking of that famous wooden beam in the eye, "Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not percieve the wooden beam in your own...remove the wooden beam form your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother's eye."

In light of the above, I am going to borrow a few words from confucious, "when you see a noble man, try to equal him. When you see an evil man, examine yourself thoroughly."

At baptism our parents take an oath to train us in the ways of faith. St. Paul is right on to use the anaolgy of disicpline in the life of an athlete in speaking of our faith life, except it isn't just an analogy it is reality. All of us are athletic when it comes to faith living. The race is not an option. We can't be bystanders and onlookers. We all must run the race to win. The power of the Holy Spirit in us from the moment of baptism urges us forward. We must enter into this training routine of faith. Practice makes better.


We should imitate St. Paul.

In the words of Jesus, when we see the mistakes and shortcoming of others, we should examine ourselves first. What we see in others we should be able to recognize in ourselves in some form or fashion. Thus, having seen our very own reflection then true compassion can come forth and change can be made possible not hindered.

We should never forget our wooden beams, they can be used to build bridges that bring true fellowship and true conversion.