Monday of Week 12 in Ordinary Time
Liturgical Colour: Green. Year A(II).
First Reading
2 Kings 17:5-8,13-15,18
The king of Assyria invaded the whole country and, coming to Samaria, laid siege to it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah on the Habor, a river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
This happened because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the grip of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshipped other gods and followed the practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed for them.
Through all the prophets and all the seers, the Lord had given Israel and Judah this warning: "Turn from your wicked ways and keep my commandments and my laws." But they would not listen. They became more stubborn than their ancestors, who had no faith in the Lord their God. They despised his laws and the covenant he had made with their ancestors. They pursued emptiness, and themselves became empty. Therefore the Lord was enraged with Israel and thrust them away from him.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 59(60):3-5,12-13
Response: Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.
O God, you have rejected us and broken us.
You have been angry; come back to us.
You have made the earth quake and torn it open.
Repair what is shattered, for it sways.
You have inflicted hardships on your people
and made us drink a wine that dazed us.
Will you utterly reject us, O God,
and no longer march with our armies?
Give us help against the foe:
for the help of man is vain.
Gospel
Matthew 7:1-5
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged; because the judgements you give are the judgements you will get, and the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given.
Why do you observe the splinter in your brother's eye and never notice the plank in your own?
How dare you say to your brother, 'Let me take the splinter out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own?
Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother's eye."
Reflection
One of the saddest lines in Scripture appears in today's first reading: "They pursued emptiness, and themselves became empty." Israel had received God's covenant, his prophets, and his guidance, yet repeatedly chose the ways of the surrounding nations. Their exile was not merely political defeat but the fruit of a deeper spiritual estrangement. God had warned them through prophets and seers, but stubbornness closed their hearts to conversion.
This remains a danger for every generation. We are constantly tempted to imitate the values around us rather than the wisdom of God. Success, recognition, possessions, and worldly approval promise fulfilment, yet they cannot satisfy the heart created for communion with God. The Catechism reminds us that idolatry consists not only in worshipping false gods, but in divinising what is not God (CCC 2113).
The Psalm expresses the cry of a people aware of their need. Human help is limited, and lasting security comes only from the Lord. Even in discipline, God invites his people to return to him. Divine correction is ordered towards restoration, not destruction (CCC 1430-1431).
In the Gospel, Jesus addresses another form of blindness. The tendency to judge others while remaining unaware of our own faults. The image of the plank and the splinter is intentionally striking. Pride magnifies the sins of others and minimises our own. Humility reverses this pattern. Before we become critics of our neighbour, Christ calls us to become disciples who submit themselves to God's transforming grace.
The Lord does not prohibit fraternal correction. Rather, he insists that charity and self-knowledge must come first. As the Catechism teaches, we should interpret our neighbour's thoughts, words, and actions favourably whenever possible (CCC 2478). Mercy begins with recognising how much mercy we ourselves have received.
The path to holiness starts not with changing everyone around us, but with allowing Christ to change us. Only then can we see clearly enough to help others with compassion rather than condemnation.
One line to carry today
Pursue God rather than emptiness, and let his mercy transform your own heart first.
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