This is a week late because it's the first time in a week that I've been able to get the laptop. Yep, Daddy's low on the pecking order for the computer. There definitely have to be some changes made in that arena, but it's not my intention to make the focus of a blog entry a rant about that. What I'd really like to talk about is judging, and the tendency people have to judge others, but not in the way one would expect. Day and night, when it comes to this and that action that some religions (usually Christian denominations) find sinful, the auto-reply of an argument is always, "Well who are you to judge?" To that, I have another auto-reply, "God judges souls; we are called to have a proper judgment of actions."
It is true that God is the final judge of our souls, and He alone knows the true condition of our souls, even better than we know our own. Therefore, even when we see people in sin, while it is our duty to instruct and pray for them, we do not assume they are bound for damnation. Yet last week's second reading from First Corinthians 4:1-5 made me realize this area of "not judging" also works the other way around. Paul says, "It does not concern me in the least that I be judged by any human tribunal; I do not even pass judgment on myself; I am not conscious of any charge against me, but I do not stand acquitted; the one who judges is the Lord." How many in today's culture are aware of the number of possible charges, secular and divine, against them? Yet, can we assume they are innocent based upon that?
I've found that by that standard, I have been just as judgmental as those who point the finger and tell people, "You're going to hell!" Among people I've met at churches throughout Long Island and New Jersey, there are a lot of people I admire and respect, and honestly I sometimes get a spiritual inferiority complex in their presence. I sometimes wonder how they even can bear to be in my presence, unless they just really don't know what a wretched sinner I am. They seem to have it all together, and I can't imagine them having any difficulty getting to heaven. Are you seeing a problem here? It hit me upside the head last week as I thought about how I can't know what sorts of temptations they face on a regular basis, or what goes on in their homes or their heads. What if they need my prayers, and I'm too busy comparing to pray for them? What if the thoughts going through their heads are a lot like mine?
It's easy to pray for the obvious sinners. It's easy to cry out to God to help the people facing addictions or steeped in promiscuity or who have lost their faith. But the devout person showing up to Mass every weekend, staying to pray after, seemingly faithful to his or her spouse and family, the one who is a pillar of the community, that individual could be just as much in need of our prayerful support. I know this much, I hope nobody who ever meets me thinks I'm not in need of prayer. Please, family, friends, people who happen to stumble on my blog, pray for me. If you're a regularly praying person, you know the line's always open, and if you're not a praying person, well then that's bound to get God's attention. Don't just limit it to me, either. Pray for all those in your life, all those whose paths meet yours throughout the day, from the person who cuts you off to the person who lets you cut in front of him or her at the supermarket checkout counter. Good or bad, don't judge, but pray for all.
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