FIRST READING
2 Kings 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18
Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, occupied the whole land and attacked Samaria, which he besieged for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel the king of Assyria took Samaria, and deported the children of Israel to Assyria, setting them in Halah, at the Habor, a river of Gozan, and the cities of the Medes.
This came about because the children of Israel sinned against the LORD, their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt, from under the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and because they venerated other gods. They followed the rites of the nations whom the LORD had cleared out of the way of the children of Israel and the kings of Israel whom they set up.
And though the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and seer, “Give up your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes, in accordance with the entire law which I enjoined on your fathers and which I sent you by my servants the prophets,” they did not listen, but were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who had not believed in the LORD, their God. They rejected his statutes, the covenant which he had made with their fathers, and the warnings which he had given them, till, in his great anger against Israel, the LORD put them away out of his sight. Only the tribe of Judah was left.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
Psalm 60:3, 4-5, 12-13
R. (7b) Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.
O God, you have rejected us and broken our defenses; you have been angry; rally us!
R. Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.
You have rocked the country and split it open; repair the cracks in it, for it is tottering. You have made your people feel hardships; you have given us stupefying wine.
R. Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.
Have not you, O God, rejected us, so that you go not forth, O God, with our armies? Give us aid against the foe, for worthless is the help of men.
R. Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.
ALLELUIA
Hebrews 4:12
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The word of God is living and effective, able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
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.”
REFLECTIONS:
How do you wish to be judged by others? Everybody
is a critic, but who wants to be judged negatively? Judgmentalism is rampant,
even among Christians. So how can we avoid this poisonous sin and not be
contaminated by the world's view of who is good and who is bad? "Thinking
the best of other people" is necessary if we wish to grow in love. And
kindliness in judgment is nothing less that a sacred duty. The Rabbis warned
people: "He who judges his neighbor favorably will be judged favorably
by God." How easy it is to misjudge and how difficult it is to be impartial
in judgment. Our judgment of others is usually off the mark because we
cant see inside the person to their inner motives and intentions, or we
dont have access to all the facts, or we are swayed by instinct and unreasoning
reactions to people. It is easier to find fault in others than in oneself.
Jesus states a heavenly principle we can stake our lives on: what
you give to others (and how you treat others) will return to you in like
manner. The Lord knows our faults, weaknesses, and sins and he sees
everything, even the imperfections and hidden sins of the heart which we
cannot recognize in ourselves. Like a gentle father and a skillful doctor
he patiently draws us to his seat of mercy and removes the cancer
of sin which inhabits our hearts. Do you trust in Gods mercy and grace?
And do you submit to his truth about what is right and wrong, good and
evil, helpful and harmful for your welfare and the welfare of your neighbor
as well? Ask the Lord to purify your heart with his loving-kindness and
mercy that you may have ample room for charity and forbearance towards
your neighbor.
"O Father, give us the humility which realizes its ignorance, admits
its mistakes, recognizes its need, welcomes advice, accepts rebuke. Help
us always to praise rather than to criticize, to sympathize rather than
to discourage, to build rather than to destroy, and to think of people
at their best rather than at their worst. This we ask for thy names sake.
(Prayer
of William Barclay, 20th century)
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