God’s Living Word Today - Monday June 22, 2020

God’s Living Word Today - Monday June 22, 2020

Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? (Matthew 7:3)

This is not a prohibition against recognizing the faults of others, but against passing judgment in a spirit of arrogance, forgetful of one’s own faults. The designation hypocrite previously given to the scribes and Pharisees is here given to the Christian disciple who is concerned with the faults of another and ignores his own more serious offenses.

Just how sensitive we are to Jesus' words might be illustrated by Pope Francis' reply to a journalist on the papal plane when asked something about gay people.  The pope replied, "Who am I to judge?

Wisdom coming from the Holy Spirit can help us to make the "judgments" that life requires from time to time.  That will tell us it is not a good thing to be wasting time looking for the splinters in other peoples' eyes.

Father Dennis