CASTING OUR PEARLS BEFORE SWINE
(March 7)
“Do not give what is holy (τὸ ἅγιον) to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.” (Mt 7:6)
This passage makes me think about the wrong kinds of attachment and concern, for people that we are not called to serve or to *save* at the moment, because in doing so we end up being “trampled,” and emotionally “torn to pieces.”
But are we to see certain other people as dogs or as swine, on the basis of the above-quoted passage? No. We are to see their and our own shortcomings and vices, like unhealthy codependency, people-pleasing, resentments, self-centered expectations, fears, demands, impatience, etc., as such. Our own weaknesses may be rendering us ineffective, in trying to connect with a person or people, from whom we want some kind of connection; for example, in cases of “unrequited love” (e.g., with an ex, our spouse, or perhaps with our own children). This is why the Lord precedes the above-quoted words with, “First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Mt 7:5)
Today let us re-focus on the planks in our own eye, if we find ourselves in the rut of “unrequited love” of some kind. Let’s take a step back and take care of ourselves, of “what is holy” and of the “pearls” within ourselves, so that we may “see clearly.” Let’s nourish our faith, becoming honest before God and ourselves, that we may be liberated from the bondage of misguided concerns. We might feel powerless to do so, but let us take heart and ask God for help, as our Lord encourages us to do in the very next verses: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Mt 7:7-8)
