Daily Mass Readings 09/05/2014 or Wait, There's a Splinter in your Eye, Let me Get my Ice Pick

"It does not concern me in the least
that I be judged by you or any human tribunal;
I do not even pass judgment on myself;
I am not conscious of anything against me,
but I do not thereby stand acquitted;
the one who judges me is the Lord.
Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time,
until the Lord comes," - 1 Cor. 4:1-5

09/05/2014 Friday of the Twenty-second Week of Ordinary Time

AHA! See, there it is again, we are being told not to judge others! See, you self-righteous Christians don't even follow your own book! HA!

That's right, you got us. Paul tells us not to judge, Jesus tells us not to judge, but wait, maybe there's a different meaning. You see, earlier in this passage, St. Paul writes that we should be "servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God" and just after Jesus tells his disciples to "Judge not, lest ye be judged", he calls them hypocrites and tells them that they must remove the beam from their own eyes before trying to remove the splinter from their brother's.

So how are we to be stewards of God's mysteries and followers of Christ if we can't judge which actions fall under those definitions? And how can we remove the beam from our eye and help our brother remove the splinter from his if we aren't able to determine what is a 'beam' or a 'splinter'? It would seem that we are expected to determine what is right and what is wrong somehow, but isn't that 'judging'?

The answer is yes. We are expected to be able to reason out what is right and what is wrong. Now there are a lot of people who will shout us down, because, let's face it, they don't want to think that there is a right or wrong. But we are expected to discern that using scripture and the teaching authority and hierarchy of the Church as our guide (remember, I'm Catholic we are blessed to have a teaching authority guided by the Holy Spirit on matters of faith and doctrine). Determining what acts are sinful and which aren't is well within our capabilities and we have a responsibility to let our brothers and sisters know when they are in the wrong. It is a spiritual act of mercy to admonish the sinner.

But what about the 'do not judge' thing? Well, as St. Paul says, he is not afraid of being judged by any human tribunal, he does not even judge himself. We cannot see and read somebody's heart the way that God can, therefore it is not up to us to place final judgement on them. The final judgement is, as they say, above our pay grade. However, if we see someone trapped in sin (a brother with a splinter in his eye) we are responsible for trying to help him to escape from it. That's where the 'stewards of God's mysteries' part comes in.

When we do find it is merciful to admonish the sinner, we are obligated to do so with love and compassion. That's where the 'servants of Christ' part comes in. After all, Jesus, even though he was trying to correct sinners, always treated others with caring and mercy. I would think he expects us to do the same.

I, for one, need to work on this.

God bless,
P.D.O.