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Begin with Yourself

2. How is it that you see the splinter in your brother’s eye and are not aware of the beam in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother that you want to take the splinter out of his eye? And see, a beam is in your eye. You hypocrite, first take the beam out of your own eye; only then will you see clearly, in order to be able to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye. (Chap. 27:2

Christ explains, corrects
and deepens the word:

Only the person who is not aware of the beam in his own eye talks constantly about the splinter in the eye of his neighbor. Only the one who does not know his own thinking and living busies himself with wanting to extricate the splinter from the eye of his brother. Whoever does not know himself or his beam – the sins of his soul that are reflected in his own eyes – has no eye for the truth. His eye is clouded by sin. He then sees in his neighbor only what he himself still is: a sinner. Only the one who works on the beam in his own eye sees increasingly more clearly. Then, he will be able to recognize the splinter in his brother’s eye ever more clearly and will help him remove it, according to the law of love of neighbor.

And so, whoever speaks negatively about his fellow man, who denigrates and slanders him, does not know his own faults.

You shall recognize them by their fruits! Each one shows who he is, himself, that is, his fruit. Whoever gets upset about his fellow man and makes fun of him shows who he truly is.

The one who first discards his own faults is also able to help his neighbor. This is why every one who speaks disparagingly about his brother’s faults – and in so doing does not notice the beam in his own eye – is a hypocrite.

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