The lamp of the body is the eye

2 Cor 11,18.21b-30; Ps 33; Mt 6,19-23
21 JUNE

The eye is the first and greatest way through which the evil of the world and every scandal enter the heart of man and turn into bad desire. Nothing is more necessary to the man than the custody of the eyes. Everyone is obliged to keep them closed for evil and to open them in order to operate the greatest good. Job certifies that he always closed his eyes to evil and always opened them for good to all. Nobody received a single evil from him. All received the greatest good. He has made of his eyes a perfect use for everyone.

If I have made an agreement with my eyes and entertained any thoughts against a maiden; But what is man’s lot from God above, his inheritance from the Almighty on high? Is it not calamity for the unrighteous, and woe for evildoers? Does he not see my ways, and number all my steps?  If I have walked in falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit; Let God weigh me in the scales of justice; thus will he know my innocence! If my steps have turned out of the way, and my heart has followed my eyes, or any stain clings to my hands, Then may I sow, but another eat of it, or may my planting be rooted up! If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbour’s door; Then may my wife grind for another, and may others cohabit with her! For that would be heinous, a crime to be condemned; A fire that should burn down to the abyss till it consumed all my possessions to the roots. Had I refused justice to my manservant or to my maid, when they had a claim against me, What then should I do when God rose up; what could I answer when he demanded an account?

Did not he who made me in the womb make him? Did not the same One fashion us before our birth? If I have denied anything to the poor, or allowed the eyes of the widow to languish While I ate my portion alone, with no share in it for the fatherless, Though like a father God has reared me from my youth, guiding me even from my mother’s womb – If I have seen a wanderer without clothing, or a poor man without covering, Whose limbs have not blessed me when warmed with the fleece of my sheep; If I have raised my hand against the innocent because I saw that I had supporters at the gate – Then may my arm fall from the shoulder, my forearm be broken at the elbow! For the dread of God will be upon me, and his majesty will overpower me. Had I put my trust in gold or called fine gold my security; Or had I rejoiced that my wealth was great, or that my hand had acquired abundance – Had I looked upon the sun as it shone, or the moon in the splendour of its progress, And had my heart been secretly enticed to waft them a kiss with my hand; This too would be a crime for condemnation, for I should have denied God above.

Had I rejoiced at the destruction of my enemy or exulted when evil fell upon him, Even though I had not suffered my mouth to sin by uttering a curse against his life – Had not the men of my tent exclaimed, “Who has not been fed with his meat!” Because no stranger lodged in the street, but I opened my door to wayfarers – Had I, out of human weakness, hidden my sins and buried my guilt in my bosom Because I feared the noisy multitude and the scorn of the tribes terrified me – then I should have remained silent, and not come out of doors! Oh, that I had one to hear my case, and that my accuser would write out his indictment! Surely, I should wear it on my shoulder or put it on me like a diadem; Of all my steps I should give him an account; like a prince I should present myself before him. This is my final plea; let the Almighty answer me! The words of Job are ended. If my land has cried out against me till its very furrows complained; If I have eaten its produce without payment and grieved the hearts of its tenants; Then let the thistles grow instead of wheat and noxious weeds instead of barley! (Job 31.1-40a).

We know from the Gospel that the rich villain did not make good use of his eyes. He only used them to look in his closets and his dishes and pots. He finished his days in eternal fire. Not even scribes, Pharisees and chief priests used their eyes to see the good. Their hearts were so wicked as to make their eyes an instrument capable of always seeing evil, even when the greatest good was before them. Evil heart and evil eyes and mouth.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. “The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.

Every sense is an instrument of the heart. If the eye is bad, the mouth will also be bad. It is a sign that the heart is bad and the whole man is bad. Purification of the soul is needed.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, give us the Spirit of conversion. Pure soul and pure eyes.