The off-ramp for judgmentalism

CHRIST tells us where we can find that exit from our strong tendency to be judgmental. “Judge not, that you may not be judged, for with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged, and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.” (Mt 7,1-2) 

 How should we understand these words? Are we not to make any judgment all? That’s impossible, since the first step for us to know something is to make a judgment. So, how should we understand these words? 

 We definitely are meant to judge, but to judge fairly. That point is implied when Christ said, “For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged. And with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.” 

 In fact, in the gospel of St. John, we hear Christ saying: “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge just judgment.” (7,24) It’s clear that we have to be most careful in our judgments. We cannot be reckless about them, judging persons and things on the basis of instincts or feelings alone, or on some opinions, personal preferences, social trends, and even sophisticated theories and ideologies. 

 Given our wounded condition here on earth, we know that we always carry with us certain biases and prejudices, and our judgments somehow are colored by them. We can have our first impressions that definitely bear these biases and prejudices, but we should make the effort to purify them. 

 We have to judge with Christ himself, and now in the Holy Spirit. With respect to this point, St. Paul had this to say: “He that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” (1 Cor 2,15) It is not pride to aspire to that ideal of being so spiritual to be able to judge all things. 

 Only in this way can we become persons of sound judgment. It’s an ideal whose importance, relevance and urgency are increasing these days, given the complicating conditions we are getting into. 

 That’s actually an understatement. We know that to be a prudent man or a person of sound judgment is essential to us, considering our nature and dignity, plus the growing scope of the responsibilities we are acquiring nowadays. 

 Not only do we have to contend with the multiplying pressures and conditionings on our personal, family and professional life. Not only do we have to grapple with the confusing ramifications of our social, economic and political life, sorting them out as best that we could. 

 With escalating insistence, we need to learn how to integrate the material with the spiritual dimension of our life, the here and now with the eternal and supernatural destiny meant for us. 

 We have to know how to live by faith, hope and charity, the essence of our supernatural life with God, in the middle of our daily activities and concerns, and in the pursuit of our temporal affairs, be it in business, politics, education, culture, sports, etc. 

 This necessity demands of us to be nothing less than persons of sound judgment. We have to overcome our tendency to be guided mainly by instincts, emotions, moods, fashions, and some sophisticated philosophies and ideologies that, while offering many good elements, actually lead us away from our proper end. 

 Let’s never dare to emit judgments that are mere products of our own making. We have to make them always in the presence of God and motivated by nothing other than love for God and for everybody else. We have to continually check on the rectitude of our intention, and the correctness and timeliness of our words and deeds.

Trust God and be fearless

WHEN Christ told his disciples, “Therefore fear them not, for nothing is covered that shall not be revealed, nor hid, that shall not be known,” (Mt 10,26) he was practically reassuring them—and now, us—that our courage in the face of whatever fear we may have in this life should be rooted in God’s knowledge, his power and faithfulness to those who believe and confess him. 

 We should not let other people’s hostility control us. The lesson to draw is that even if others may misunderstand us, or slander and persecute us, God in the end will reveal what is true and bring everything into the open. 

 We should not worry too much about the misunderstanding and even hatred that others may have against us, because we have been given all the assurances that if we are with God, everything would just turn our right. 

 Evil does not have the last word, unless we let it. It is the good that will have the last word. And so, we just have to learn how to go through such things even to the extent of cooperating with evil materially, not formally, if only to change things for the better. 

 In this, we should look at Christ not only as the model but also and most especially as the power to enable us to derive good from evil regardless of all the dirt involved in the process. 

 What we are asked to fear is to fear offending God. Christ articulated this truth when he said, “Fear not them that kill the body, and not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Mt 10,28) 

 We have to know when to be afraid and when not. We have to distinguish between a good fear and a bad fear, a healthy one and a sick one. We need to know how to handle and deal with our fears that are unavoidable in our life. 

 Fear is an emotion that we need to educate also. It just cannot be on its own, guided only by our spontaneous judgments and reactions, and appearing when it’s not supposed to, and not appearing when it’s supposed to. It has to be grounded and oriented properly, expressing the sublimity of our dignity as persons and children of God. 

 Let’s remember that among the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the fear of the Lord. It’s the good and healthy fear of a child who is afraid to offend his father. It’s a filial fear, not a servile one. It’s one that, instead of being tempted to run away from God, would rather motivate one to get closer to him. 

It’s the fear of losing God, even if we may have offended him and have to do something to atone and repair. It’s the fear that we should foster, especially these days when we see a lot of people who are not afraid anymore to offend God. Though to be fair, we can also say that many do not fear God anymore because in the first place they don’t know him. No one fears what he doesn’t know. 

 In all our affairs and situations in life, we should always go to God to ask for his help and guidance, and to trust his ways and his providence, even if the outcome of our prayers and petitions appears unanswered, if not, contradicted. 

 This should be the attitude to have. It’s an attitude that can only indicate our unconditional faith and love for God who is always in control of things, and at the same time can also leave us in peace and joy even at the worst of the possibilities.

Bank with eternity, not with earth

THAT’S practically what can come to our mind when we consider Christ’s words to his disciples: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth, where the rust and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither the rust nor moth consumes, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” (Mt 6,19-20) 

 It’s like saying that we should invest in what would last for eternity, where God keeps it. This can only mean that we should put our heart into things with eternal value, prioritizing eternal rewards over earthly gain. 

 I suppose what all this means is that we should take care of our heart, of what is truly inside our heart, for what we keep there will determine what we will be in the end. It’s a matter of ordering our desires and intentions toward what cannot perish, and that can only be God. 

 We need to see to it that even as we immerse ourselves as deeply as possible in our earthly affairs, we do not lose our sense of heaven and eternity. In fact, the ideal is that as we go deeper in our temporal affairs, our sense of heaven and eternity should also become sharper. 

 This is always possible and doable as long as we are guided first of all by our faith rather than by our feelings and by our merely human estimation of things. Let’s always remember that it is our faith, our Christian faith, that gives the whole picture of our life—where we come from, where we are supposed to go, the purpose of our life here on earth, the true value of our mundane concerns, etc. 

 Let’s be theological in our thinking and reaction to the things of this world. For that, we, of course, would need some training. It should consist of always referring things to God, whatever they may be—good or bad, a success or a failure, a victory or a defeat, etc. We need to feel the urge to do so. 

 In short, we have to keep our spiritual and supernatural bearing which should involve a certain detachment from the things of the world. For this detachment to be lived, we should assume a certain spirit of gamesmanship or sportsmanship, since the effectiveness of our earthly affairs is not so much in whether we win or succeed in them as in whether we manage to refer them to God whatever the outcome. 

 We try to do our best to win in whatever endeavor we do, but just the same, whether we win or lose we remain happy and assured that we are all friends, brothers and sisters, and children of God. 

 The detachment involved here can be of the heroic type as illustrated in the gospel. “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble,” Christ said, “cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.” (Mt 18,8-9) 

 Though these words should not be taken too literally, we have to understand that we have to be ready to take extraordinary means if only to stay the course in our earthly activities.