Know Thyself First than others

Gospel Thoughts*

*Ordinary Season : C Cycle : 8th Week - Sunday*

*GOSPEL -  Lk 6:39-42*

*FIRST READING - Sir 27:4-7*

*SECOND READING - 1 Cor 15:54-58*

*Know Thyself First than others*

*1) Know Thyself*

Know thyself is the beginning of Wisdom - by Socrates

This is one of the famous dictum, which highlights the importance of Knowing the self than anything else in the World 

Unless we know who we are, we can't grow in our life. So this dictum is very important for all of us 

*2) Know Thyself is the General theme of today's liturgy*

The readings of the day, speak about the above theme *knowing oneself*

There are some specific areas in our life though which we can try to know our self in a deeper level 

The following are some of the ways through which we can know our self a little more 

*A) Our Speech or Spoken Words*

The first reading of the day speaks about our speech or spoken words 

Sirach says, once fault is identified when one speaks 

Ones speech discloses the bent of ones mind 

Never to praise a person before he/she speaks 

Jesus Says, the mouth speaks what is stored in ones heart. If it is good, good comes out. If it is bad, bad comes out. 

So finally we can say that, our speech is one of the best ways to find out what we are and to know more about myself. 

Our Speech gives us the real knowledge about our own self. 

*B) Use Your energy not to find out others fault, but to find out ones own faults*

Jesus makes a reference to the splinter which is in the brothers eye and efforts that are made to remove it. 

There is nothing wrong in removing the splinter which is in the brothers eye, but the problem is, one is having the problem of the vision because of the log of wood, which is in the eye of the person who tires to remove it. 

Now the amount of enery spent and the efforts made by one to remove the splinter in the brothers eye, had it been used to remove the log of wood in ones own eye would have been benefited a lot 

By removing the log of wood in ones own eye, one will come to know about his/her own self more and more, which will help a person to grow a lot. 

*C) Training*

Jesus says *A fully trained, disciple will be like his teacher*

When one becomes like a master he is able to know his/own self more than before 

So in knowing the self, training is very much necessary

One Needs to train ones tongue, to  learn how talk, what to talk and when to talk

One needs to train one mind to understand the self 

One needs to train ones eyes to see what is happening within the self 

One needs to train ones heart to feel the emotions of the self 

The training of the above faculties, will help us to know the more and more

*3) Unknown self causes many problems*

If our self is unknown to us, then we become the strangers to yourself 

This also causes many problems to our life, since we don't know what is happening within the self 

*4) Knowing the Self is a great adventure of life*

Knowing ones self is not easy. It is a Herculean task, which needs hard work and continuous effort 

It is an adventure because, it is a never ending process. 

*5) Battle against the self is a greatest battle*

This is the greatest battle of life 

Only few people can win this battle 

To fight against the self one needs a tremendous courage and self confidence. 

So am I ready to conquer my self?.

*Think about it*

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

*Fr Maxim Dsouza*

*Jeppu Seminary*

*Mangalore*