Monday, June 22, 2015

Reflection for June 22, Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time; Matthew 7:1-5

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.
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Reflection:
What do you get by judging others? Nothing except the accumulation of hatred in your heart which if not corrected could even cause you sickness even death. What if you will not judge or you are not quick to judge? There would be no hatred within you! As such you will feel free, you will look younger and sickness will not be your best friend.

We may not know this but we are quick to judge others for the simple reason that we have a very high regard of ourselves. And this is brought about by our feeling of superiority towards others. But why do we feel superior towards others? When we are all created by God as equals.  Where does this superiority feeling emanates?

We have this feeling of superiority because God is not truly present within us. And God is not a permanent dweller in our hearts. There’s a story of a woman who was a regular fixture in church organization. But she was not well liked because she was so judgmental and self-righteous. Are we not often times also judgmental and self-righteous?

In our gospel for this Monday we hear Jesus telling us to stop judging. Why? This is for the reason that when we judge we already distance ourselves from that person. We already create a wall that may permanently divide us from that person. If this is so, how could we covert them? How could we let them feel the love of Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

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