Word to the Wise
Monday, March 5, 2012 - 2nd Week of Lent - Mon
[Dan 9:4b-10 and Luke 6:36-38]Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful....For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you. [Luke]
My father was a judge in our state. When he was elected, someone gave him an enormous gavel as a kind of humorous reminder of the seriousness of his office. To the best of my knowledge, he never took it to court with him, but kept it on his desk at home. There are times in the sacrament of Reconciliation when I think of that gavel because so many people admit to being "judgmental" and express the wish that they could rid themselves of that habit! It appears, from today's gospel, that the problem is ancient! I sometimes tell penitents to take their judge's gavel and bury it somewhere so that in order to be judgmental, they have to go and dig it up. In the process they may realize what is going on and stop the judging!
There is another way to handle this, however. Jesus points it out to us. He reminds us that we will be treated as mercifully as we treat others! This is included in "the Lord's Prayer" in the line where we ask God to forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us! If we can imagine ourselves being judged as harshly or as leniently as we judge others, it may give us a good motive to be merciful! It might reduce the size of the gavel in our hand! AMEN
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