2 Kings 17:5-8.13-15a.18,
Psalm 60:3.4-5.12-14,
Matthew 7: 1-5 Full Readings
Fraternal Correction
In today's Gospel Jesus challenges our judgmental attitudes with a stern warning “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." If we judge with mercy and justice we shall also be judged with mercy and justice and the vice versa is true.
It's very easy to misunderstand Jesus when he says don't judge so that you will not be judged. This doesn't mean that we should keep a blind eye to the faults and failings of people around us. When we decide to act like that we shall give ourselves a hard task which we will not manage. People make mistakes, they sin, some are stubborn and do stupid things around us. To pretend that we are not seeing these things and not to do anything about them, we are cutting ourselves off from reality. For instance, parents have to correct their children if they do wrong, the law has to take its course when one does a crime and a right punishment has to be given. Therefore, Jesus does not mean we stop noticing these things and leave living the reality. Now what does Jesus mean by saying that don't judge that you will not be judged?
Jesus means that in pointing out those wrongs we should not take ourselves as judges to judge others for what they have done. In exercising fraternal correction, Humility and charity go hand in hand. Humility lets us see our own weaknesses and faults and sympathize with others. Humility lets us recognize our own need for God’s mercy and so understand and forgive the faults of others. God alone knows the whole story behind someone’s behavior. We should try to focus on the other’s good points, one’s virtues, and to excuse one’s faults as much as possible, and when we can’t excuse them, to follow the advice of St. Francis de Sales: “…let us at least make it worthy of compassion by attributing the most favorable cause we can to it, such as ignorance or weakness” (Introduction to the Devout Life, III, 28). We are called to love as Christ loved, and his love was not dependent upon behavior. In charity, we pray for others, and we sacrifice in reparation for their actions.
When we respond and correct our brethren with charity and love as a key element of the Christian life, it shows that we not only care for our brother but also shows that God loves him as he is. Some of us may remember being told that when we speak of others, we should ask, “Is it true? Is it kind or good? Is it necessary or useful?” If what we want to say doesn’t pass all three tests, we don’t say it. However, at times, we may be called to gentle, fraternal correction (Matthew 18:15-17). Charity, and particularly charity in speech, does not mean avoiding all possible conflict. Sometimes we have to speak up about an injustice or damaging behavior. In fact, the Catechism identifies fraternal correction as a demand of charity (cf. CCC 1829), and that charity must be evident in what is said. This requires self-examination of one’s motives and humility about one’s own faults. One must pray for strength and patience to respond to any anger with humility and charity. Further, one must always be prepared to receive fraternal correction with charity and humility, difficult though it may be.
St Augustine gives us this advice on correcting others: "Rather, whenever necessity compels one to reprove or rebuke another, we ought to proceed with godly discernment and caution. First of all, let us consider whether the other fault is such as we ourselves have never had or whether it is one that we have overcome. Then, if we have never had such a fault, let us remember that we are human and could have had it. But if we have had it and are rid of it now, let us remember our common frailty, in order that mercy, not hatred, may lead us to the giving of correction and admonition. In this way, whether the admonition occasions the amendment or the worsening of the one for whose sake we are offering it (for the result cannot be foreseen), we ourselves shall be made safe through singleness of eye. But if on reflection we find that we ourselves have the same fault as the one we are about to reprove, let us neither correct nor rebuke that one. Rather, let us bemoan the fault ourselves and induce that person to a similar concern, without asking him to submit to our correction." (excerpt from SERMON ON THE MOUNT 2.19.64)
Our invitation today is to try to manage our tendencies of judging others and focusing more on fraternal correction with love and humility. As human beings the tendency to look at others' faults and forgetting ours is in us. In an Aesop Fable, titled The Two Bags, we read, “According to ancient lore, every man is born into the world with two bags suspended from his neck, one is front and one behind, and both are full of faults. But the one in front is full of his neighbor's faults; the one behind full of his own. Consequently, men are blind to their own faults but never lose sight of their neighbor's.” This is the attitude which we should try to shun as Jesus tells us today.
Reflect today on how how you respond to those who do what looks bad to you or according to our church teachings or to our common sense. How judgmental are you? How much is that judgmental tendency in you? What is your motive behind judging others? What is the measure you give to others? Do you do to others what you would like to be done unto you? Reflect on these questions and ask the Holy Spirit to help you grow from negative judgmental attitudes and develop fraternal correction based on humility and love.
Let us pray.
O Father, give us the humility which realizes its ignorance, admits its mistakes, recognizes its need, welcomes advice, accepts rebuke. Help us always to praise rather than to criticize, to sympathize rather than to discourage, to build rather than to destroy, and to think of people at their best rather than at their worst. This we ask for thy name's sake. (Prayer of William Barclay, 20th century).
Be blessed
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