Am I quick to notice what others do wrong, but not so quick to recognize the same failings, or worse, in myself?

Reading “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? Matthew 7:3.

Good morning, happy Monday, and many blessings.

In today’s Gospel (Matthew 7:1-5) Jesus’ challenge for his followers today is not easy. He tells his disciples to stop judging. “Do not judge…”. What a difficult command! How many times do we judge without realizing it even reading the newspaper, watching the news, or walking down the street? Can I try to make allowances for people today? I will imagine myself as one of the crowd, listening to the force and authority of Jesus’s words. What is it like to hear Jesus speak in this way?

This is difficult for most of us to do.  Judgment comes from deep within us.  Someone may do or say something that violates what we believe or hold sacred and we judge them for it.  Perhaps they just did not put something back where it belonged or maybe they said something to us that cut us to the core.

We all have standards.  Most of them we learned at a very young age through our parents and family members.  As young children, we didn’t even know we were adopting standards of thought and behavior. Thus, our family standards and rules typically are unconscious.  These standards and rules often lead us to judge another person’s behavior or attitude without even realizing that we are doing so.

Most of what we learned as children was essential to us. However, some of the learned attitudes of judgment that may hinder us in significant ways.  Can you name two or three attitudes or standards you learned as a child that you now consider unhealthy?  What are the leftovers from childhood that continue to plague you, even as you strive to overcome them?

Today, ask Jesus to remove the “wooden beam from your eye” so that you may have more compassion and understanding with yourself and with others.  When we realize that we are judging, we then can step back and consciously release our judgment.  After all, who are we to judge?  We don’t appreciate it when other people judge us without knowing the whole story.  No one appreciates being judged.

Today I invite you to set judgment aside as best you can.  Strive to be mindful of when you are making a judgment.  When you realize that you are judging, simply release the judgment.  The reality is that judgment is God’s work, not ours. Today, may we let God be God!

Blessings,

Fr. Luis+