From the Hermitage
“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.
For as you judge, so will you be judged,
and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.
Der Friends,
How many times have we heard these words or other words quite similar? These words are important for us today because as we learn or experience from the current political model provided by our national leaders in Congress, by some of the media, most of the TV and radio talk shows, our times are times of critizing so many individuals. At the same time the real object or problem is overlooked: it escapes the reality of genuine critique. We fail to understand the meanings of the two words.
A Jesuit, writing for the Creighton University's daily reflection, noted that we do miss the boat, as it were,
in falling into the carelessness of criticizing a person. We are called to critique an action, a book, a show, an article, a speech etc. We fail ourselves when we criticize an individual's actions! When someone overheard another person critizing another person, the observer said, "I didn't know God had died and left you to be the judge!"
It is so easy to become a judge of another person in today's society. There seems to be a need to feel better by criticizing another person because what that person espouses offends us or is contrary to what we would prefer.
It is so easy to do because we have allowed our society to become expert at critizing a person rather that a product or an idea.
"It will be measured out to you!" Kinda difficult, eh? Let us pray today that when we want to critique something we should take care not to criticize the person.
Oremus pro invicem,
Fr. Milt
