How can you say to your brother, “Brother, let me take out the splinter that is in your eye,” when you cannot see the plank in your own? Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take out the splinter that is in your brother’s eye.
Lk.6:42
Jesus is giving his Sermon on the Mount, here focussing on the vices of hypocrisy and judgement.
It seems wicked hypocrisy and judgement have been part of the human condition for millennia. I'm in good company, good in the sense of a good number. Hypocrisy and the associated evil of judgement being common human conditions is no excuse not to fight them.
Jesus' assertion is that there is always a greater fault in me than there is in the brother I am judging. The antidote? Work on my own faults first before attempting to work on the faults of others.
This is a lifetime work, which is perhaps Jesus' point. I'll never be in a place where I can say I'm faultless. This means I'll never be in a place where I can rightly judge others.
I need to root out hypocritical judgement from my life, starting from today...
Jesus, I am a hypocritical judge. Help me assume a natural attitude that others are always in a better state of grace than myself.
Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.
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