St. Paul was big on tradition. In today's first reading from 2 Thessalonians 3, he tells the people to "shun any brother who walks in a disorderly way and not according to the tradition they received from us."
In the Gospel reading from Matthew 23, we see a continuation of Jesus dressing down the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy. He pulls no punches in letting them know where they had gone astray.
Hypocrisy is one of those things - among many - that is easy to spot in others, but nearly impossible to spot in ourselves. Perhaps this is one of the things Jesus was thinking about when talking about seeing the splinter in your brother's eye but not the plank in yours. Come to think of it, maybe calling someone else a hypocrite is itself hypocritical. Let's mull that over today.
Father, help us to not be blind to our own hypocrisy. May we see it clearly, root it out and repent. Amen.
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Self-objectivity is indeed a difficult task. I have read that it is suggested to rely on a (trusted) third party for honest feedback – someone who will tell me what I need to hear and not just what I want to hear!