📖 Today's Gospel 22 June 2026 · Monday 12th Week in Ordinary Time 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 own 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." ✨ Reflection This is one of the most quoted passages in all of Scripture — and one of the most ignored. We love to repeat "do not judge." We are far less eager to look honestly at the beam in our own eye. Jesus does not say that discernment is wrong. He does not say we should never notice when something is amiss in another person. He says something far more specific — that the way we measure others becomes the way we ourselves will be measured. This is not a threat. It is simply how judgment works. A harsh measuring stick applied to someone else does not stay pointed outward. It becomes the standard that eventually gets turned back on us. The image Jesus uses is almost comic in its exaggeration — a man with an entire wooden beam lodged in his eye, offering to perform delicate surgery on his brother's tiny splinter. We laugh at the absurdity. And then we recognize ourselves in it. How often do we see, with perfect clarity, the small fault in someone else — while remaining completely blind to the much larger thing distorting our own vision? "You hypocrite" — Jesus's words, not flattering, but accurate. A hypocrite, originally, was an actor — someone performing a role that was not their true self. When we focus intensely on others' faults while ignoring our own, we are performing a kind of theatre — playing the role of the righteous judge while quietly avoiding the harder work of self-examination. But notice the end of the passage. Jesus does not say "never remove your brother's splinter." He says "remove the beam from your own eye first, then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye." This is not a call to silence. It is a call to order. Self-examination first. Honest correction second — offered not from a place of superiority, but from someone who has already done the harder work on themselves. This connects directly to yesterday's reading about courage. True courage to speak truth is not the same as harsh judgment of others. Courage that has not first passed through honest self-examination easily curdles into self-righteousness. But courage tempered by humility — a person who has removed their own beam first — can offer correction that actually heals rather than wounds. 💡 Truths to Remember • The measure we use on others becomes the measure used on us • Notice the beam in your own eye before naming the splinter in another's • "Hypocrite" means performing a role rather than living it • Self-examination comes first, correction of others comes after • True humility doesn't silence truth — it tempers how truth is spoken 🙏 Prayer Lord, show me the beam in my own eye before I notice the splinter in someone else's. Free me from the harsh measuring I so easily apply to others. Teach me to examine myself honestly, so that whatever truth I do speak comes from humility, not hypocrisy. Amen. 💬 What is one area where you've judged quickly without first examining yourself? #DailyGospel #Matthew7 #DoNotJudge #RiseWithTheWord