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Gospel: Matthew 7: 1-5
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Stop judging, that you may not be judged.
For as you judge, so will you be judged,
and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye,
but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?
How can you say to your brother,
‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’
while the wooden beam is in your eye?
You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first;
then you will see clearly
to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Sight is a curious thing.
Eyes allow us to appreciate the beauty of God’s creation – the glow of sunrise, the twinkle of the stars at night, the blue of water, the face of our beloved.
But it can also be misused to judge and criticize the imperfections of other people without noticing our own.
This is the irony of the eye.
It cannot see itself. Nor can it look inward. Eyes can only look outward, allowing us to see one of two possibilities: beauty or imperfection.
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Which of the two do I tend to focus on?
In particular, what do I see when I look upon other people, either beauty or imperfection?
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No one is perfect.
“All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God,” Saint Paul says.
Sometimes it is right and necessary to correct a friend, a neighbor, or a colleague who has done wrong.
But before criticizing someone else, the Lord commands us to take a hard look within, making sure that we are not guilty of the same offense – or a greater one – lest we be hypocrites.
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Perhaps today we can set our tendency to notice imperfections aside and focus on what always surrounds us: the glow of sunrise, the twinkle of the stars at night, the blue of water, the face of our beloved.
The beauty of the earth.
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Image credits: (1) Auckland Eye (2) Fountains of Life (3) Pinterest