{"id":5819,"date":"2019-10-26T09:32:29","date_gmt":"2019-10-26T09:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/?p=5819"},"modified":"2019-10-26T10:48:37","modified_gmt":"2019-10-26T10:48:37","slug":"judge-not-lest-you-be-judged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/judge-not-lest-you-be-judged\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge not, lest you be judged . . . ?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There is a teaching in Catholic Moral Theology, rooted\nin the bible, that tells us we have an obligation to let our\nneighbor know when they are committing sin. It\u2019s called\nFraternal Correction and the obligation occurs first with\nthose who we know to be Christian and hold the same\nprinciples of behavior as we do.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scripture says in effect we are doing them a favor. The\nhope is they recognize their failure and return to right\nbehavior. By this, you have saved your brother\/sister. To\nremain silent, is an offense against them.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now some of us respond to this injunction more vigorously than others. They like to correct people. The problem is sometimes we do the \u201ccorrecting\u201d behind their back in conversation with others. Jesus addressed this when he advised us to take the log out of our own eye first, then we would see clearly to help remove our neighbor\u2019s splinter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others of us (perhaps most) are inclined to \u201cjust go\nalong\u201d. We close our eyes to the bad stuff happening\naround us. We don\u2019t want to \u201cget involved\u201d. \u201cIt\u2019s none\nof my business\u201d. This is what happens to me and I bet to\nyou too.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how do we do the right thing here? How do I know when to speak out and when to remain silent? Certainly the gravity of the situation would require us to act. Serious danger to innocent persons, great scandal to children, a major injustice or unfairness, observed cruelty to others . . . all require us to step forward to witness to goodness, to protect innocence. I think most of us see our duty here. With God\u2019s help let us be up to the test. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is something else happening here. You see, along the way of \u201ccorrecting\u201d someone, we can often end up \u201cjudging\u201d them. It is at that point we\u2019ve gone too far, for judgment belongs to God. It can be hard to distinguish between the two (judging\/correcting). Let\u2019s see if we can find some guidelines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

–To tell my co-worker that he has his facts wrong or his\nstatement is inaccurate \u2013 is correcting. –To say \u201cyou\u2019re\nlying\u201d or \u201cyou\u2019re a liar\u201d — is judging.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–To encourage someone to not give up or to \u201ckeep on\ntrying\u201d is a way to correct. To call them a lazy quitter is\nto judge.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–To stress the value of dressing with modesty is correcting. To call someone a tease is judging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would seem if there is a name attached to the behavior\none is concerned about, chances are I\u2019m judging another\nperson.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why can\u2019t we judge people? Because we just don\u2019t know the reasons why people do the things they do or the desperate situations in which they must choose. And lacking that knowledge, the goodness or evil of their actions is known only to God. (Remember the woman caught in adultery? \u201cHas no one condemned you?\u201d said Jesus. \u201cNor do I. Go and avoid this in the future.\u201d This was correction not judgment.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One key that helps a bit is to try as St. Paul says to \u201cbear with one another\u201d, to accept people as they are with certain weaknesses and faults. Not that we close our eyes to wrong doing, but that we \u201clove the sinner\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s love that brings someone to their senses, not judgment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blessings on your week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fr. Tim <\/p>\n\n\n

\n

Scripture Readings for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (all)<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n

First Reading: Sirach 35:12-14<\/a>, 16-18<\/a>
\nResponsorial Psalm: Psalm 34:2-3<\/a>, 17-18<\/a>,19<\/a>, 23<\/a>
\nSecond Reading: 2 Timothy 4:6-8<\/a>, 16-18<\/a>
\nGospel: Luke 18:9-14<\/a><\/p>\n

Scripture Readings for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (all)<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n

First Reading: Wisdom 11:22<\/a>, 12:2<\/a>
\nResponsorial Psalm: Psalm 145:1-2<\/a>, 8-9<\/a>,10-11<\/a>, 13<\/a>, 14<\/a>
\nSecond Reading: 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2<\/a>
\nGospel: Luke 19:1-10<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a teaching in Catholic Moral Theology, rooted in the bible, that tells us we have an obligation to let our neighbor know when they are committing sin. It\u2019s called Fraternal Correction and the obligation occurs first with those who we know to be Christian and hold the same principles of behavior as we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-column"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5819"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5823,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5819\/revisions\/5823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}