Saint Bernardino Realino by Ermes Dovico

GOSPEL PEARLS

The wrong way round

Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves (Luke 6, 37)

Gospel Pearls 14_03_2022

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.’ (Luke 6, 36-38)

Only God can judge souls. Immediately after death, we will find ourselves face to face with Jesus and unable to fallback on the excuses we used to make during our lifetime. But, what will help us will be the way we treated others, starting with how willing we were to forgive. Understanding and helping sinners, however, should never mean justifying their errors. Yet today, it seems that it has become trendy to justify sins ("that’s nothing", "what's wrong with that", etc.) and to condemn sinners instead ("did you see that?", "Isn’t he ashamed of himself", etc.). Be particularly careful today not to fall into the worldly trap  of forgiving and condemning the wrong way round.