September 2003

These are shocking words. Jesus says that we should cut off our foot or our hand, that we should pluck out our eye if they cause us to sin. We know that these words are not to be taken literally, even though they have all the power of a two-edged sword (see Heb 4:12). They are his way of telling us that in the face of whatever might be an occasion of sin, we must be ready to give up everything, even things and persons dear to us, rather than lose what is truly valuable: “to enter life”, that is, communion with God and our salvation.
These words in the Gospels—“causes you to sin”—indicate all that stands between us and God, hindering us from carrying out his will; anything that is like a stick wedged in a wheel to prevent us from following Jesus, like a trap to make us fall into sin. There are times when our eye, our hand, or foot “cause us to sin,” that is, they would bring us to the point of denying Jesus, of betraying him, of preferring other things to him.
Santa Scorese, a 23-year-old girl from Bari, southern Italy, understood this very well. In 1991 she preferred death to losing her purity when threatened by a young man her age. God was worth more to her than her own life.

«If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell»

This Word of Life unmasks the “old self” (see Eph 4:22) in us. In fact, sin doesn’t come from external things, from the outside, but from within us, from our hearts. The “old self” lives in us when we give in to the allurements of evil and satisfy our worst inclinations: selfishness, hunger for power, glory, or money… The “old self” must surrender to the “new self” (see Eph 4:24), that is, to Jesus in us.
Are we ourselves capable of uprooting the inordinate passions in our heart and generating the divine life within us? Only Jesus, through his death, can make our “old self” die and, through his resurrection, transform us into new men and women. He can give us courage and determination in the fight against evil, as well as a faithful and radical love for what is good. From him comes that inner freedom, that peace and inexpressible joy which lifts us above all the world’s evils and enables us to experience, even now, a foretaste of heaven.

«If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell»

The “new self” in us must grow and be protected from the traps of the “old self.” What should we do? Back in 1949 I wrote: “There are many ways to have a clean room—picking up one straw at a time, using a small or big broom, or a big vacuum cleaner, etc. Or else we could move to another room where it is clean, and everything would be done. That is how it is in our journey to holiness. Rather than working hard to remove one fault after another, we can immediately set our own selves aside and allow Jesus to live within us. We can transfer to another person: to our neighbor, for example, who is beside us moment by moment, and begin to live his or her life fully.”
To love! This is Jesus’ entire doctrine. Let’s refine or purify our hearts to make it capable of listening to others, of identifying with the problems and worries of our neighbors, and sharing their joys and sufferings. May we break down the barriers that still divide us, overcome judgments and criticisms, and come out from our isolation to put ourselves at the service of the needy and the lonely, and build everywhere the unity Jesus desired.
If we live this way, God will draw us into an ever more intimate union with himself and render us almost unyielding and invincible in the face of the errors and attractions of the world.

«If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell»

Jesus also tells us to drastically “cut off” whatever (things, persons, or situations) could be occasions of sin for us, thus underlining the “deny yourself” of the Gospel (see Mk 8:34). A Christian has the courage to go against selfish tendencies so that they don’t become a lifestyle.
During this month let us go out of ourselves by loving those around us and cut off any attachments to all that we should not love. Let’s clean up all that needs to be removed from our heart. No sacrifice is too great if we want to preserve our communion with God. Every cut will make joy bloom in our hearts—true joy, that which the world does not know.

Chiara Lubich