First reading: Sir. 27:4–7

When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear; so do one’s faults when one speaks. As the test of what the potter molds is in the furnace, so in tribulation is the test of the just. The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had; so too does one’s speech disclose the bent of one’s mind. Praise no one before he speaks, for it is then that people are tested.

Second reading: 1 Cor. 15:54–58

Brothers and sisters: When this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality, then the word that is written shall come about: Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Gospel: Lk. 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.”

In other words

by Fr. Dante Salces-Barril, SVD (Rome, Italy)

Jesus says, “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.” Does it mean God created “good and bad trees?” But the book of Genesis tells us that God sees everything he created as very good (Gn 1:31). So, why are there “bad trees?”

The phrase from the 1st reading where Ben Sira says, “the fruit of a tree shows the care it has had” (Sir 27:6) helps us understand Jesus’ “good and bad tree saying”—there are bad trees that bear rotten fruits because of “bad farmers.” Bad farmers are those who “sleep on the job,” under the tree that they are supposed to cultivate. They wait for fruits to miraculously appear and pray for gravity to pull down the fruits and deliver them into their lap.

I love a “bit” from comedian Russel Peters. He says he hates millennials and Gen-Z’s. They are weak, lame, and whiny. But he ends up with the sobering realization that this weak, lame, and whiny generation is in fact the “product” of his own generation. His generation are this generation’s parents, godparents, uncles/aunties, teachers, priests, etc. This is like saying, if the old ones berate the young ones with “something is wrong with you,” it would not be incorrect if the young ones respond with, “and also with you.”

I may sound pessimistic. But really, I am very optimistic. The problem is only the farmer, and not the tree. The tree is not damaged, only uncultivated. Also, the farmer is not “dead,” but only “asleep.” So, if we all “wake up”—as St. Paul exhorts the Romans: “the night is far spent” (Rm 13:12)—then we can turn the whole thing around. We can cultivate “our trees” so they can bear fruit a hundredfold. Indeed, there is hope for the trees!