Not A Judge

The WORD today (see http://usccb.org/bible/readings/062016.cfm) reminds me that I am not in a position to judge others. 

There is a saying that you should not judge a book by its cover. And some make fun of it by saying that you should not judge a book if you're not a judge! Funny, but it has some sense into it. It is something we can relate the gospel to.  We should not be judging others. We are not judges. God is. 

It is easy to judge others. It is easy to tell what is wrong with others. It is easy to talk about the sins or imperfections of others. Sometimes, when the person is annoying, it can even be fun to talk about these things. However, Jesus in the gospel tells us we should not.

Judging others is usually a sign of our own insecurities.

We sometimes see and focus on the wrong of others instead of improving ourselves because it is easier to. Improving ourselves is painful and difficult, and it is easy to just focus and magnify the imperfections of others to prevent the attention be on us. We want to hide our own imperfections. We want to escape and forget that we have things to fix ourselves. When we talk about others, we feel that we can shun away the criticism that our own shortcomings bring.

We should just focus on and improve ourselves. 

We do not know what others are going through. We do not know the real story. And regardless if we do, we are not in a position to judge. Only God is. And what he wants us to do is focus on ourselves. What he wants us to do is improve ourselves. What he wants us to do is help ourselves, change ourselves so we can be more and more like him. And if we are full of him, then we can help, not judge, others and improve them. 

May we remember to look at ourselves and not judge others. 

Father God,

Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for another chance to know you and experience your love. Thank you for another week. Lord, I am sorry for the times i judge others, knowingly or unknowingly. Sorry for focusing on the faults and imperfections of others. Sorry for being pressured to talk ill about others, and for judging others instead of helping them. Help me see with your eyes. Help me focus first on myself, on my sins and imperfections. Fill me and make me more like you, so that I would see others the way you see them. And would treat others as you would - helping and not judging them. Amen. 

Blessed week!

In Christ,

-g-

Ps

See related reflections:

http://mysimplereflection.blogspot.com/2014/09/look-inside.html

http://mysimplereflection.blogspot.com/2015/06/judge.html

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June 20, 2016
Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 371

Reading 1 2 Kgs 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18

Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, occupied the whole land
and attacked Samaria, which he besieged for three years.
In the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel
the king of Assyria took Samaria,
and deported the children of Israel to Assyria,
setting them in Halah, at the Habor, a river of Gozan,
and the cities of the Medes.

This came about because the children of Israel sinned against the LORD,
their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt,
from under the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
and because they venerated other gods.
They followed the rites of the nations
whom the LORD had cleared out of the way of the children of Israel
and the kings of Israel whom they set up.

And though the LORD warned Israel and Judah
by every prophet and seer,
“Give up your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes,
in accordance with the entire law which I enjoined on your fathers
and which I sent you by my servants the prophets,”
they did not listen, but were as stiff-necked as their fathers,
who had not believed in the LORD, their God.
They rejected his statutes,
the covenant which he had made with their fathers,
and the warnings which he had given them, till,
in his great anger against Israel,
the LORD put them away out of his sight.
Only the tribe of Judah was left.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 60:3, 4-5, 12-13

R. (7b) Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.
O God, you have rejected us and broken our defenses;
you have been angry; rally us!
R. Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.
You have rocked the country and split it open;
repair the cracks in it, for it is tottering.
You have made your people feel hardships;
you have given us stupefying wine.
R. Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.
Have not you, O God, rejected us,
so that you go not forth, O God, with our armies?
Give us aid against the foe,
for worthless is the help of men.
R. Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.

Alleluia Heb 4:12

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The word of God is living and effective,
able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Mt 7:1-5

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Stop judging, that you may not be judged.
For as you judge, so will you be judged,
and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye,
but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?
How can you say to your brother,
‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’
while the wooden beam is in your eye?
You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first;
then you will see clearly
to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.”