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If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your
whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you
to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose
one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.
Matthew 5:29–30
This imagery of tearing out your eye and cutting off your hand is
clearly meant to get our attention. Though we can be certain that
Jesus is not actually suggesting we mutilate our bodies, we should
not hesitate to prayerfully ponder this imagery so as to understand
the truths Jesus is speaking.
Saint Augustine, in reflecting upon this passage, states: “By the
eye we must understand our most cherished friend…” Augustine
further points out that Jesus specifically mentions the “right eye”
as a way of denoting those friendships that have a “higher degree
of affection” (Serm. in Mont. i. 13.). Thus, although
friendship—especially very close friendship—is a gift, sometimes
those close to us can become a source of sin or an occasion of sin.
In that case, they are not truly friends, and it might be better to
limit or even end that relationship rather than to allow it to lead
us into sin.
Think about the people in your own life. Though we must love all
people with the love of God, friendship is more than love.
Friendship establishes a special bond with another and opens you up
to their presence and influence in your life. When you establish a
friendship, you allow another a certain influence in your life.
When that influence is good, then the friendship produces much good
fruit. But when that influence is evil, then that friendship
becomes a danger to the good of your soul. In that case, it may
need to be torn out or cut off so that you are not drawn into
serious sin or even the occasion of sin.
When a friend in your life becomes an occasion of sin to you, your
love for them must remain, but it must also change. Love, in this
case, may take on the form of a loving rebuke, a withdrawal of your
own heart, or a limiting of your interactions. But this is love. By
analogy, when a person sins against God, their relationship with
God also changes. God withdraws His friendship. He is less present
to the person, and their internal communion diminishes or even ends
when the sin is serious. This is not a lack of love on God’s part;
it is simply the effect of sin. So also in our relations with
another, when the grace of God is not mutually given and received
between two people, then friendship in the truest sense is not
possible. True friendship is always centered in God’s grace and
dependent upon it. Therefore, when God is excluded from a
relationship, that relationship must change from a true friendship
to a relationship that imitates God’s love for a sinner. Mercy,
compassion and forgiveness must continually be offered, but
interior communion and unity will end. But this is love.
Reflect, today, upon those in your life whom God has given you to
love. First, reflect upon those relationships that do have God at
the center. These relationships will become true friendships and
will produce an abundance of good fruit in your life. Rejoice in
these friendships and give thanks to God for them. Second, reflect
upon any relationship that does not bear good fruit. As you do,
prayerfully consider how you approach that relationship. Do you
attempt to maintain a “friendship” even though God is not able to
be the center of that relationship? If so, ponder how God is
calling you to change that relationship so that it more fully
reflects the love God has for you and for that other person in your
life.
My Lord and true Friend, I thank You for loving me with a
perfect love. I pray that I will always be open to that love so
that my unity with You will ever deepen. I also pray that I will be
an instrument of Your love to others. Please give me the grace to
love everyone in my life in the way that You love them, nothing
less and nothing more. Jesus, I trust in You.
Image: El Salvador beneint by Lluís Ribes Mateu, license
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