Word to the Wise
Monday, February 26, 2018 - 2nd Week of Lent - Mon
[Dan 9:4b-10 and Luke 6:36-38]MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2018. MONDAY IN THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT [Daniel 9:4b-10 and Luke 6:36-38] "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return to measured out to you." [Luke] Mercy and generosity go together. Jesus challenges one of the most common human failings: judging others. In another place in the gospels, he uses the image of the beam and the splinter in one's eye. Inevitably, the kind of judgment meant here is one that puts another person in a bad light. The reasons may be of all kinds - personal, political, social. Often it is not so much the other person as the fault in ourselves that leads us to judge the other. It is here that mercy and generosity meet. Jesus challenges us to be generous with mercy. The same mercy we show toward another should also be the mercy we show toward ourselves, and it should be generous and not grudging. When Pope Francis made his now famous comment, "Who am I to judge," the international reaction to this both positive and negative showed how deeply the tendency runs! My father was fond of saying to me, "Hate the sin and love the sinner!" If we can come to terms with the conflict we feel about this all-too-human way of acting, we will have made a big step toward holiness! AMEN
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