Year C

March 2, 2025

On this page you will find:

The readings for Mass, the Mass leaflet with the choice of hymns
A sample universal prayer available for download , in PDF and editable Word formats.
A meditation on the Sunday Gospel , a spiritual text and a commentary by Marie-Noëlle Thabut

8th Sunday

Ordinary Time

A good tree does not bear rotten fruit;
Never, either, a rotting tree

does not produce good fruit.
Indeed, each tree is recognized by its fruit:
You don't pick figs from thorns;
You also don't harvest grapes from brambles.

Luke 6:43-44

Readings from the Mass

https://www.aelf.org/2025-03-02/romain/messe

Mass leaflet

Universal Prayer

Lectio Divina
Consult this page for a prayerful preparation for the liturgy and then read the meditations below.

Meditation

Today's Gospel reading presents brief parables through which Jesus shows his disciples the path to wise living. With the question, "Can a blind man guide a blind man?" (Lk 6:39), he emphasizes that a guide cannot be blind but must have clear vision; that is, they must possess wisdom to guide wisely, otherwise they risk harming those who trust them. Jesus thus draws the attention of those with responsibilities in education or leadership: pastors, public authorities, legislators, teachers, and parents, urging them to be mindful of their delicate role and to always find the right path to lead others.

And Jesus uses a wise expression to present himself as a model of teacher and guide to follow: “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher” (v. 40). This is an invitation to follow his example and teaching to be sure and wise guides. This teaching is contained particularly in the Sermon on the Mount, which the liturgy has been offering us in the Gospel for the past three Sundays, indicating the attitude of gentleness and mercy to be sincere, humble, and just people. In today's passage, we find another significant phrase, one that exhorts us not to be presumptuous and hypocritical. It says: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” (v. 41). Often, as we all know, it is easier or more convenient to perceive and condemn the faults and sins of others, without being able to see our own with the same clarity. We always hide our faults from ourselves, even from ourselves; on the other hand, it is easy to see the faults of others. The temptation is to be lenient with ourselves—to be self-indulgent—and harsh with others. It is always useful to help others with wise advice, but while we observe and correct the faults of our neighbors, we must also be aware that we too have faults. If I believe I have none, I cannot condemn or correct others. We all have faults: every single one of us. We must be aware of this, and before condemning others, we must look within ourselves. In this way, we can act credibly, with humility, and with charity.

How can we know if our eye is free or blinded by a beam? It is Jesus who tells us: “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit” (vv. 43-44). Fruit refers to actions, but also to words. The quality of a tree is also recognized by its words. Indeed, the good person brings forth good from their heart and mouth, while the bad person brings forth evil, practicing the most harmful activity among us: murmuring, gossiping, speaking ill of others. This destroys; it destroys families, destroys schools, destroys workplaces, destroys neighborhoods. Wars begin with the tongue. Let us reflect a little on this teaching of Jesus and ask ourselves: Do I speak ill of others? Do I always try to denigrate others? Is it easier for me to see the faults of others than my own? And let's try to correct ourselves at least a little: it will do us all good.

Let us invoke the support and intercession of Mary to follow the Lord on this path.

POPE FRANCIS

ANGELUS

Saint Peter's Square

Sunday, March 3, 2019

The Gospel for this Sunday

presented to children

(and to those who resemble them)

Interview with Bernadette Dumont

for Magnificat

(I highly recommend subscribing: here )

You shine like stars in the universe

holding fast to the word of life.

Why, today, does Jesus illustrate everything he wants to say with parables?

A parable is a short story invented to make something easier to understand than through a long explanation. Jesus teaches a lot through parables because he is primarily addressing those who have a childlike heart and mind.

So, children can understand parables better than we adults who want to explain them?

In a certain sense, yes. Children often understand better, right away, what Jesus means. Provided, however, that they have been given the necessary knowledge to properly appreciate the story in its context.

– Its context in the Gospel: to whom is the parable primarily addressed? Here, when Jesus speaks of the blind guides, he is addressing religious leaders (cf. Mt 15:14). This parable is therefore addressed to us who guide children on the path of Jesus. It makes us ask ourselves the question: “Do I illuminate the path for those who follow me? Or do I obscure it?”

– Its context in life at the time. For example, for a city child today, a story about harvesting as it was practiced 2000 years ago needs to be put into context.

◗ To fully appreciate the parables of this Sunday, is there a particular context to take into account?

Each of these short parables addresses our behavior towards one another within a human community, such as a family, but especially within the Church: being good guides and good disciples, first demanding of ourselves in order to be demanding of others, loving not in words but in deeds and in truth. And this, so that Christians may shine like stars in the universe, holding fast to the word of life.

◗ So, as Jesus said, "once fully trained, each will be like his master"?

Yes, but in this case in both directions: children by acquiring our knowledge, and us by being among those who resemble them.

Are there any other requirements for presenting these parables to children?

The most important point remains: the truth of what Jesus wants to tell us is never to be found in the story itself, or in any of its elements—which may be implausible—but in what Jesus wants us to understand through that story. It's not true that we can put a beam in our own eye! But it is very true that we more readily criticize the minor faults of others than we acknowledge the major faults we ourselves have committed.

Bernadette Dumont is a mother and grandmother, catechist and author of children's books.

Better understanding the Gospel
with Marie-Noëlle Thabut

Better understanding the Gospel

with Marie-Noëlle Thabut

THE STRAW AND THE BEAM

Luke has gathered here several instructions from Jesus that resemble warnings concerning relationships within the Christian community. Surprisingly, we find these same recommendations in the Gospels of Matthew and John, but they are scattered and spoken in entirely different contexts. If Luke has gathered them here, it is because he saw a connection between them; it is this connection that we will explore. This leads us to distinguish two parts in this text: the first part, a reflection on the gaze; the second part, the metaphor of the tree and its fruit. The first part develops the theme of the gaze. It begins with an observation: a blind person cannot guide another blind person, we all know that. The implication is, beware: when you present yourselves as guides, remember that you are blind from birth. The little story of the mote and the beam goes in exactly the same direction: with a beam in your eye, you are indeed blind; there is no question of pretending to cure the blindness of others. Between these two remarks, Luke inserted a seemingly enigmatic phrase: “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” This training Jesus speaks of is, in a way, the healing of the blind, which we are. It is indeed the same Luke who noted that the disciples on the road to Emmaus only began to see clearly when “Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45). Just as Jesus came into the world to open the eyes of the blind, his disciples, healed by him of their blindness, have the mission of bringing the light of revelation to the world. What the prophet Isaiah said of the servant of God, in what are called the Servant Songs, is true of Jesus Christ, but also of his disciples: “I have made you… a light for the nations. You will open the eyes of the blind, you will bring out prisoners from the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness from the prison” (Isaiah 42:6-7). A magnificent mission that the disciples will only be able to fulfill if they constantly place themselves under the light of the Master and allow themselves to be healed by him of their blindness. Luke then moves without transition to the metaphor of the tree and its fruit, which suggests that we are still in the same register: the true disciple, the one who allows himself to be enlightened by Jesus Christ, bears good fruit; the one who does not allow himself to be enlightened by Jesus Christ remains in his blindness and bears bad fruit. What kind of fruit is this? Obviously, since this short passage follows a whole development by Jesus on mutual love, we understand that the fruits refer to our behavior; the general watchword being "be merciful as your Father is merciful".

A TREE IS RECOGNIZED BY ITS FRUIT

Jesus' contemporaries understood this language very well; they knew that the Father expects fruits of justice and mercy from us, fruits in deeds or words: "For the mouth speaks what the heart overflows with," Luke tells us. As before him, Ben Sira had already said: "It is the fruit that reveals the quality of the tree; thus, the word reveals the feelings. Do not praise someone before they have spoken, for then they can be judged." (This was the text of our first reading.) In just a few sentences, Luke has unfolded the entire Christian mystery: formed by Jesus Christ, the Christian is transformed in their whole being: their gaze, their behavior, their speech. We find the same teaching several times in the New Testament; for example, in the letter to the Philippians: "You shine like the stars in the universe as you hold fast to the word of life" (Philippians 2:15-16). Or again, in the letter to the Ephesians: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light—for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth” (Ephesians 5:8-9). The first step in formation, the ABCs , so to speak, consists of learning to see others as God sees them: a gaze that does not judge, does not condemn, that does not rejoice in finding a speck in someone else's eye! Moreover, in the Old Testament, the speck is an image of something minuscule. Let us remember Psalm 1: the chaff is blown away by the wind, it does not count… Precisely, let us not count the faults of others: God does not count them. “The disciple who is fully trained will be like his teacher,” Jesus tells us; this phrase follows the entire discourse on God's mercy and on our vocation to be like him. Like Father, like sons... The program is ambitious: love your enemies, be merciful, do not judge, do not condemn... and always, underlying it all, is this affirmation, "Your Father is merciful," and you are called to be his image in the world. How can we bear witness to a God of love in the world if we are not in his image? One last lesson from this text: "For the mouth speaks what the heart overflows with," Jesus tells us. So, a good way to discover the heart of God and to perfect our formation, to become more and more in his image, is to immerse ourselves in his Word!