Scripture Scribbles: March 2, 2025

the Gospel

Luke 6:39-45

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 scribble

Recently, my students and I have been reading Venerable Fulton Sheen’s Victory Over Vice, which focuses on the seven deadly sins, the last words of Christ, and the virtues that overcome these vices. We landed on Pride this past week. Whew! How prideful we can all be! What struck me in the chapter was the danger of intellectual pride - a pride that assumes we know all we need to know. 

The counter to pride is True Humility - an acknowledgment that “gifts are gifts and faults are faults”(Sheen); and an offering of praise to God for these gifts and faults. “No disciple is superior to his teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.” 

In today’s Gospel, we are invited to True Humility. We are invited to take the log out of our eyes, to look at our own faults and sins, to allow God to bear the gift of good fruit in us. Because without God, we cannot bear the fruit. We cannot be truly humble. 

Lent begins this Wednesday. Where are you drawn to deeper conversion this year? Is it to look at your vices and also recognize the gifts He’s given you? Is it to prune out the rotten fruit you’re producing to make way for good fruit? Is it something entirely different? 

Take some time today to sit with this Gospel and ask the Lord to reveal to you what he desires for you to grow closer to Him, and what logs are blocking you from seeing His love clearly.

Today’s devotion was written by Diana Giard