The first reading from Sirach makes some great points. Is the potter a skilled artist? You’ll find out when the pottery comes out of the furnace. Does the fruit tree bear good fruit? You’ll find out when the harvest is ready. Is this person a good, wise and holy individual? You’ll find out when they speak. It will reveal something about their judgments, character and their visual acuity for goodness.

My friend Fr. Zack has a foundational rule for homilies: if you homily has three points, save two for another time.  It’s good advice, but today, I will take an exception to the otherwise excellent rule. I want to talk about three things: judgment, character, and blindness – all preludes to our actions and words in the world.

Judgment: We know that we certainly don’t like to be judged. And when we are, or at least think that we are being judged, often we grouse, “who are they to judge me?”  We know that even though we are cautioned about judging others, we often take the bench as judge, jury, and maybe sometimes even as executioner. But we are subtle about it. Growing up in the South it was common to hear: “My Aunt May is so controlling and demanding. She treats her husband like a hired hand…bless her heart.”  All you had to do was add that last part and you got a free pass. That didn’t count as judging. ….sure…

But think about this: what sort of person would we be if we made no moral judgments? I don’t know about your life, but I find life constantly brings you face-to-face with the need to make discriminating moral choices. It is a life of learning to discern right and wrong, develop a sense of justice while being able to spot hypocrisy and moral compromise. Like or not we have to judge. Call it discernment if you like; perhaps a distinction without a difference..

Character: “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.” (Luke 6:45). What is in your storehouse ready to pull out when needed?  Lots of things. Moral discernment begins with family of origin experience, what we take in with our eyes, our ears and a whole lot more. They form memories, which become our thoughts, which are played out in word and action, forming habits, developing character, all leading to the person we are becoming.

If we want to see what’s in the storehouse, we need only consider our words, actions, and habits. They reveal what’s in the storehouse or at least what you are using from the storehouse. Is it good or not-so-good tending towards evil?  Our first judgment should be to have a sense and on-going consideration of the fruit of our lives. We need to be discriminating about our own assessment of choices and decisions, but we also can’t wait for perfection. That is a long wait for a train don’t come. We have to continue to make moral choices and to help those around us make moral choices.

Blindness. Moral life is a process of learning to judge between right and wrong, developing an acute sense of justice, all the while being able to spot hypocrisy and moral compromises in ourselves and others. It is a life-long process to develop heightened spiritual awareness – which slowly brings things into focus, removing the blindness. We aren’t perfect, but at least we are avoiding the big pits.

King Solomon found himself in the same position. He prayed for Wisdom, right? Actually he was more specific. He prayed for Wisdom so as to discern and judge rightly. He wanted Wisdom to tap into the memory of his father, King David. Wisdom to see the good and bad in his father,  a flawed human being to be sure. He wanted Wisdom to tap into the storehouse of good as a first response to his moral decisions.

Filling the storehouse. Proverbs 4:23 instructs us to “With all vigilance guard your heart, for in it are the sources of life.” In our hearts, we store up everything that motivates and moves us. In our hearts we store up the Word of God, or, conversely, messages that run counter to it. In our hearts we store up faith or doubt, love or hatred, grace or vengeance.

In our hearts we store up our memories and, more importantly, the stories we tell about those memories — about the meaning behind the things that have happened to us. These meanings, these messages to ourselves shape us. What we store in our hearts molds our character and becomes the lens through which we see the world. Ultimately, it is our choice to store something given to us or not. When we do, it becomes part of our inner treasure: the collection of things we guard and protect, the things we value.

Pray. Lent is upon us. Why not dedicate the season to (a) meditating on the contents of your storehouse and (b) praying to the Holy Spirit for the gift of Wisdom and insight to discern its content. Be willing to take the time – and not just one time – time after time to discover and add to the storehouse of goodness within you as you remove logs and splinters, see more clearly, and witness to fullness of the heart play out in your words and action, habits, and character – slowly becoming ever so closer to being Christ-like.

 A friend of mine observed that all the above had similarities to becoming a parent. There is a good deal of blindness in play at the beginning just because the future is so unknown: “I’m not ready. What was I thinking?” The whole time raising the child you will be making one moral choice after another – and wondering if you made the right choice – and forming the child in that same moral framework. The sights, sounds, memories become thoughts, words, action – you develop habits of providing love and care for your children and slowly you become “mom.” So flawed in your own eyes, so loved in the eyes of the child.

The whole while it was love that flowed from the storehouse of goodness. Flowed through all the uncertainty. The flow of love from God through you to the child, helping to fill the storehouse for the next generation. An infinite, unending resource: love/the gift of the Spirit/the fruit of Wisdom. The result, a good person living out of the store of goodness in their heart producing good fruit.

Pray, Discern, Love:  fill and tap into the store of goodness – world without end.  

Amen

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Image credit: Photo by Ashin K Suresh on Unsplash