The command of the Lord, “Do not judge” is so simple that it
is problematic. He doesn’t put any restrictions on the command, and our
dualistic minds want to set a box around it to limit it and to divide the world
between good and evil folk. Immediately the objections pop up: “Yes, but . . . “ “But how about . . . “ “But aren’t we supposed to speak out about .
. . “
And yet, Jesus says, “Do not judge.” Clear and simple. And
Pope Francis has recently made the command more personal when he asked, “But
who am I to judge?”
Another warning comes from the Lord: “The measure with which
you measure others shall be measured back to you.” I’d like to paraphrase his
statement like this: “The strictness with which you judge your neighbor will be
set as the same strictness that will be used against you when you are judged.”
Now of course there are evils in the world which we often
feel an obligation to condemn or to speak out against. But there is a
distinction that needs to be made about a systemic evil in the world and the
blame or culpability of the individual who may play a part, either consciously
or unconsciously in that evil. And here the Church is clear and uncompromising.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, #
1735: “Imputability and responsibility
for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence,
duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social
factors.”
In other words, no matter what you may see in the world as
being “evil,” DO NOT JUDGE any individual in the tribunal of your own mind. As
Pope Francis has said, “the confessional must not be a torture chamber.”* Make sure that is true in the confessional of
your own mind.
I’ll close this with something I have often preached. It
comes from St. John of the Cross: “Tend your own garden and mind your own
business.” Or even Jesus, “Let he who is without sin among you cast the first
stone.”
* The Joy of the Gospel, article 44.
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