The psalm response:  “The just one shall live on your holy mountain, O Lord,” speaks to the core of both of today’s reading. The Old Testament reading from Proverbs offers us an example of the proper way of living. We are shown how  to “love our neighbor as ourselves” in the first few verses of the reading and then  “loving God” by obeying his moral code.

The Gospel alludes to the light of a lamp. Jesus  exhorts us to bring both his words and teaching into the light for others to see and responds to. We are also told “to take care of how we hear.” The ability for  hear the word of God clearly should be easy , but at times it is not. The answer for me is in prayer, meditation, quiet listening  and spiritual direction. Only by applying  all these tools am I able to “take care of how I hear.”