Daily Gospel Reflection

Guard Your Eyes

Hi, I'm Matthew Kelly. Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we take a look at today's Gospel, we look at the genius of Jesus, the genius of His teachings. We're looking for a word, a phrase, or an idea to anchor our day in the gospel. Today's reading comes from Mark chapter 9, verses 41 through 50. "For truly I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink, because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands go to hell to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.

It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourself and be at peace with one another."

Wow.

It's quite a reading, right? There's so much you could so much you could draw out of that one. But what jumps out at me is that one of the metaphors Jesus uses, if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.

And the saints talked about the spiritual discipline of having custody of the eyes of not casting our eyes on things that lead us to temptation. And this, of course, is becoming increasingly difficult in our society, where we're being offended and abused almost everywhere we turn, almost everything we look, or every way we look. And it links very powerfully to, of course, the scripture in Genesis, where we read that Adam and Eve looked at the fruit-- before they took it, before they ate it, they first looked at it. And we learned that-- the power of that is that we see and then we covet. This is why the church has always taught custody to the eyes. This is why the saints have practiced and encouraged custody eyes because we see and then we covet. The eye is not content with seeing. We see and then we covet. That's why they send us all these emails, advertising things. That's why they still send catalogs in the mail, right? Because they know that we see and then we covet. Let's be careful what we cast our gaze upon today. Have an amazing day and remember, be bold, be Catholic.