The danger of having dirt/poison inside

 GOSPEL THOUGHTS

21^st Week – Tuesday

Gospel – Matthew 23: 23-26

 

The danger of having dirt/poison inside

1) The dirt/poison which is inside is more dangerous

Poisonous snakes have poison in his mouths. This poison is not seen from outside. At times we find it difficult to identify which are poisonous snakes. But the poison which is inside their mouth/body is very dangerous

Poison/dirt which is inside is not able to see. From outside it appears normal and beautiful. So one is easily trapped into the problem

So since it is hidden it is dangerous

Secondly poison/dirt is always stands for something bad and not for good. That is why it is dangerous

Thirdly as long as this dirt it will affect him. That is why it is dangerous

2) Dirt or poison which is inside first affects the person who has it

First of all dirt or poison has not place inside our body

It is a foreign body which works against the normal working of the body

So first of all having this dirt or poison affects the person and he/she suffers terribly.

Sometimes we think that having some dirt or poison within ourselves will help us to teach lessons to others. But the fact is that it works terribly against the person, which makes the person to suffer.

3) Dirt/poison which is found inside cannot be removed by others

This is another difficulty of having dirt or poison inside.

Only the person who has it will have have make efforts to remove this dirt. Other can only partially help him if he agrees for it.

4) Removing dirt from inside is more difficult than outside

It is not so easy to deal with inside dirt.

First of all the person has to realise that there is dirt inside, which becomes, at times, most difficult task

Secondly he has agreed to get out of it. There is a tendency in many that they think that there is no problem with the dirt inside.

Thirdly he himself has to deal with it. Others cannot forcefully remove this dirt

Fourthly this is not the task of one day or one month. It is a process. Since it is a process one has to ready to go through this process to come out of it

Fifthly it needs some rigorous and disciplined spiritual exercises to remove the dirt from inside.

It appears that the whole process seems to be difficult but not impossible. So it is difficult

5) A thing remains intact if it is clean from inside

Whatever may be the circumstances outside, if the inside is perfect the thing will survive

At times valuable things which are buried under the mud or dirt for years together with some clean vessels, remain without any stain because the inside is very clean.

The outside dirt or mud does not affect the inside things in any way

6) Outside dirt is seen and can be cleaned by others

Since outside dirt is very visible there is no danger. It does not become an hypocrisy. It is not dangerous like the dirt inside which is not seen but acts dangerously

The dirt which is found outside can be cleaned by others. There is no much difficulty here

7) Cups which are clean only from outside are useless

No one will use the cups which are dirty inside

The most used space of the cup is inside and not the outside

There is no guarantee that if the cup appears to be clean from outside is also clean inside. The clean outside cup need not be clean from inside.

A cup is dirty from inside is useless. Such cups are thrown out if they are not able to clean it.

8) Our life is like that of cup

We need to keep it clean for its use.

If our cup of life is dirty from inside it becomes useless if it is not able to clean it

If the cup of our life is dirty from inside it will stink. One can not keep it without stinking it

When the cup of our life stinks no one can use it and no one will come near to it.

When the cup of our life is full of dirt in it, whatever we pour into it also becomes dirt. So entire thing becomes useless

If the cup of our life is dirty from inside it soils everything and it makes everything bitter and poisonous.

9) What is found inside the Cup of my Life?

We need to check it

Is it Love, humility, sincerity, politeness, comparison, forgiveness, charity, patience, truth, and Justice?

Or is it filled with

Anger, jealousy, hatred, pride, gossip, revenge, injustice, cheating, selfishness, self-righteousness and other vices

Think about it

God bless you and your family. Praying for you and your dear ones.

Fr Maxim D’Souza

Jeppu Seminary

Mangalore