September 11, 2026
Friday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Luke 6:39-42

Today is Friday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time. The passage taken from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke presents us with a parable spoken by Jesus to His disciples. Let us endeavor to reflect upon it.

Jesus told His disciples this parable: “Can a blind man guide a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? No disciple is superior to his teacher; but when he is fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.” (cf. Luke 6:39-40)

If we were to take the words of Jesus merely according to their literal meaning, we might think that Jesus is saying a person who is physically blind cannot lead another who is likewise physically blind. But what Jesus wishes to tell us is this: one who cannot clearly see the path that God has set before him is unable to guide those who likewise cannot see the way ahead.

In fact, we too were once blind. At that time, we did not know Jesus, and we had not yet received the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ nor the anointing of the Holy Spirit. By reason of original sin, the eyes of our faith were veiled by the devil and by sin, so that we could not see the beautiful world created by God. In those days we were easily led astray, because we always assumed that what others preached was correct. But when our hearts were at last awakened by the Holy Spirit—who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and is consubstantial with the Father and the Son in the unity of the same Godhead—out of a spiritual instinct we grew ever more eager to know Jesus, ever more eager to become children of God by receiving the Baptism of Christ and the oil of gladness poured out by the Holy Spirit. Gradually our eyes came to see Jesus; and it was then that He invited us to come to the parish, so that we might experience His love for us and come to know the world of God that He sets before us. It is precisely through this experience that we slowly came to know Jesus, received His Baptism and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and became children of God.

In today’s Gospel passage there is yet another point worthy of deep reflection: “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the wooden beam from your own eye; then you will see clearly remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.” (cf. Luke 6:41-42)

As I write this reflection, I am often reminded of those brothers and sisters in the Church who are quick to accuse others. They constantly think: “Everyone else is wrong; only I am right.” We think this way because we cannot accept ourselves, and because we imagine ourselves to be perfect. Sometimes, when we offer our prayers to God and feel that God has not answered us, we say that God is not perfect, because He does not grant us every grace for which we ask.

Today, Jesus invites us no longer to criticize others, but rather to recognize in others our own shortcomings, and to help and support one another in a spirit of brotherhood. For we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven alone; we need the help of angels. Who are our angels? Aside from the guardian angels that God sends to each of us, those brothers and sisters who genuinely help us are the very angels that God has sent to us. If we cherish this precious bond of brotherhood, we will experience in it the love that God has for us. Then we will become ever more conformed to Jesus, for our hearts will no longer beat in time with the devil, but in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Then the hatred between us will disappear, and only love will remain.

O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption,
look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters,
that those who believe in Christ
may receive true freedom
and an everlasting inheritance.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever

©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica