Fr Prodencio Bognay presents our Gospel reflections this week and today reads from the Gospel of Matthew (7: 1-5) in which Jesus says ‘Do not judge and you will not be judged because the judgement you give is the judgement you will get and the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given’.

Fr Prodencio says there is no assurance that if we avoid judging others, other people will not judge us as well.

What is certain, however, is that when we refuse to judge others through given standards, say for example social status, we won’t be affected even if other people will judge us according to our social status.

If we become obsessed on becoming better than others, no doubt, we will feel one day that somebody is better than us.

But if we refuse to label anybody in terms of ranking, we will never find ourselves in the losing end of game even if many will try to compete against us.

If we refuse to judge others based on their skin color or race, we will avoid the painful effects of being judged on the basis of our skin color or race.

If we refuse to judge others based on their beliefs or culture, we will not be affected even if others will judge us based on our beliefs or culture.

In closing Fr Prodencio says, Jesus invites us to take the measuring plank out of our own eye first, and then we will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of our brother’s eye.