MARY, OUR MOTHER

SCRIPTURE COMMENTARY #190

"And why seest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye; and seest not the beam that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: Let me cast the mote out of thy eye; and behold a beam is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." (Matt. 7:3-5)

SINS AGAINST BROTHERLY LOVE: Our Lord equally warns us as to all sins against brotherly love, whether they be committed by thought, word, or deed.

a) Censoriousness and detraction. He who desires to find fault with others, must make sure that he himself is better than they! And yet, do we not constantly find that those men who have great faults of their own, are the very ones who judge the small faults of their neighbors most severely, not at all remembering their own short-comings? Such men are hypocrites, for they pretend to detest and avoid sin in others, while all the time they are loving and cherishing it in themselves. Furthermore, they sin against brotherly love by preferring to talk about what is bad in their neighbors, rather than about what is good in them, and they are more zealous in exposing their faults than in concealing them.

b) False suspicions and rash judgments. "Judge not!" says our Lord. We cannot judge rightly, not being omniscient and able to search our neighbor's heart. We ought, therefore, to judge others most tenderly and indulgently, and never even suspect evil of them without the most conclusive proofs. Still less ought we to condemn them, and without sufficient reason to take for granted that the suppossed evil is a fact.

[From 'A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture' by Bishop Knecht, D.D.]

(1899 Douay-Rheims Bible)