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.
—Matthew 7:1–5

“If it wasn’t for people, we could all be holy.”
—Mother Angelica

We are surrounded by imperfect human beings, and it is all too easy—especially in a crowded city like ours—to become preoccupied with all of the crazy, frustrating things that other people do. It is not so easy, however, to notice that we are one of them. The truth is that picking at other people’s faults doesn’t actually help anything. Rather than ruminating on all the ways in which other people are going astray, we would be making better use of our time to keep our eyes ahead, focusing on our own path. Whenever we find ourselves noticing another person’s weakness, we can say a quick prayer for them and move on—not in a self-righteous, pitying way, but in a way that acknowledges that God alone can heal our weaknesses. Rather than acting like a Pharisee and thanking God that we are not like our neighbor, we can pray, “God, help us all.” God, help us all to sit still, look up, and allow You to remove the wooden beams from our eyes.