REFLECTION CAPSULES – June 26, 2023: Monday
“Purifying our lives, rather than indulging in mud-slinging on others!”
(Based on Gen 12:1-9 and Mt 7:1-5 – Monday of the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year 1)
Blessed Mother Mary.
Zechariah and Elizabeth.
Bartimaeus.
Martha.
Mary Magdalene.
Levi.
Peter.
Thomas.
Zachaeus.
Man crippled for 38 years.
The Samaritan Woman.
The woman caught in adultery.
The widow who offered the two mites.
Malchus.
The thief alongside Jesus on the cross…
Relax…
This is not a reference list of all the main persons of the New Testament for some research purpose or study.
But for a moment, let’s look at the lives of these persons….
All of them had to face some sort of trouble in their lives…
… some hitches and dilemmas, were a part of all their lives.
Now, if each of them, were to be placed on trial, as in a court, and judged according to our standards and our human yardsticks….
… Perhaps, most of them would be been condemned and convicted.
Some of them would have been humiliated in public…
… some abused with insults and foul language
… some perhaps would be stoned or even put to death!
This is human judgment.
But in the Light of God’s mercy and by God’s way of judging…
… we know the story of all their lives!
Human beings are least equipped to judge, but their judgments are miserable & condemnable
God is fully equipped to judge, but His judgment is praiseworthy & encouraging!
That’s the difference in judgment between human beings and God!
In the Gospel of the Day, Jesus says, “Do not judge!” (Mt 7:1)
We need to clarify what does the word JUDGE mean…
Jury makes judgments.
Schools make judgments on students.
Companies make judgments on candidates in an interview or in cases of promotion/demotion.
All these may not constitute the judgment that Jesus means.
Judging, in the sense of Jesus, is condemning!
It is to have a negative and pessimistic attitude to human beings and condemning and rejecting them outright and absolutely!!
We could consider “Judge not” from three aspects:
1: We are unworthy to pass a final judgment on any person or situation:
We need to let God be God and as human beings, we need to know our limitations.
2: We are not to judge the motives of other people:
Human beings see only the external…
… God sees the heart of the person!
3: We are not to be petty faultfinders:
We need to cease having a “microscopic vision”, in order to scan and scrutinize the faults and weaknesses of others.
In the light of today’s Gospel, we need to examine certain aspects of our life…
Do I…
… maximize the sins and faults of others and minimize mine?
… come to quick, hasty and negative conclusions?
… pass critical stories to other?
… have a strong bias to find others guilty?
… try to be harsh even when speaking the truth?
… dilute an unkind remark by saying, “I was only joking.”
… say something critical and then trying to cover
it up?
Even after this examination, if there is a tendency to judge, then there is one person we can be critical of…
… Yes, Our Own Selves!
Yes, let us be judging our actions, our behaviours, our thoughts…
… and seek to purify our lives, rather than indulging in mud-slinging on others!
It’s high time we give up the “vulture-culture!”
Vultures, as we know, are birds, which fly across landscapes and terrains, and with their sharp eyes, swoop down on rotting, dead flesh…
… any flesh that is decayed, becomes a great feast for them!
The “vulture-culture” is very much in our society too…
We tend to relish on the decay, the weaknesses, the faults, the miseries and dark areas of others lives!
Am I, in anyway, contributing to this foul-practice?
Let’s examine!
Let’s improve!
God Bless! Live Jesus!