Mt 6:19-23
[Jesus said to his disciples,] 19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. 20But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. 21For 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; 23but 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.”
The lamp of the body is the eye. If you want to see the truth in a person, they say, look at his eyes. They do not lie. Sadness and joy can be best read in the eyes. True, it is with the heart that one sees. But it is equally true that one has become a real person when one’s eyes have heart and one’s heart has eyes.
I was telling an older brother priest about a common friend’s misdeeds. “He is such a hypocrite,” I said.
My brother priest objected, “Well, maybe not really.”
“Oh, you should know what he did,” I insisted.
My brother priest again replied, “Well, maybe not really.”
“And he did this other thing,” I followed up.
Again, he answered, “Well, maybe not really.”
Then it dawned on me that my brother priest was seeing the brighter side of our common friend all the while I was looking at the darker side. He had a beautiful lamp in his eyes while I had a nasty lump.