12TH MONDAY HOMILY OF ORDINARY TIME — YEAR A
12TH MONDAY HOMILY OF ORDINARY TIME — YEAR A
HOMILY THEME: “STOP JUDGING, THAT YOU MAY NOT BE JUDGED”
BY: Fr. Mike Lagrimas
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.
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Perhaps we can say that one of the most important inventions of man is the mirror. It helps us look at ourselves. It gives us the opportunity to judge ourselves.
However, the mirror helps us only on the physical aspect of our life. We need a kind of spiritual mirror to be able to look at our own attitudes, moral and spiritual values, and thoughts. That is why there is a need for every one of us to have a spiritual director or adviser to serve as our mirror.
The Gospel today is a warning against pride and arrogance. If we honestly and diligently look at ourselves as in a mirror, we will always realize that we are all sinners. We are no better than the others. We have no reason to boast and feel superior over them. And so the Lord tells us not to judge anyone. Otherwise, God will judge us accordingly: “For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.” It may be hard to admit, but most likely, He will find us more guilty than the ones we judged. St. Teresa of Kolkata said that our main mission as followers of Christ is to love, and so, “if you judge people you have no time to love them.”
In case at some point in time we are tempted to judge others, let these words of St. Augustine serve as warning to us: “There is no sin or crime committed by another which I myself am not capable of committing through my weakness; and if I have not committed it, it is because God, in His mercy, has not allowed me to and has preserved me in good.”
If we want to look for faults in others, we will surely find a lot. But instead of judging them, let the faults we see in them serve as mirrors for us. To our embarrassment, we may discover that we have the same faults and sins ourselves, or even worse. Let the faults of others, therefore, make us more humble and be sincerely sorry for our own mistakes and failings. And God always looks mercifully and lovingly on a humble and contrite heart.
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