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| ”Christ the Judge” by Laurent de La Hire, c. 1640. |
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
"Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk
and from your father's house to a land that I will show you.
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you
and curse those who curse you.
All the communities of the earth
shall find blessing in you."
Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
Abram took his wife, Sarai, his brother's son Lot,
all the possessions that they had accumulated,
and the persons they had acquired in Haran,
and they set out for the land of Canaan.
When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land
as far as the sacred place at Shechem,
by the terebinth of Moreh.
(The Canaanites were then in the land.)
"To your descendants I will give this land."
So Abram built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.
From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel,
pitching his tent with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east.
He built an altar there to the LORD and invoked the LORD by name.
Then Abram journeyed on by stages to the Negeb.
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Commentary on Gn 12:1-9
In this passage from Genesis, we find the beginnings for God’s interaction with Abram. In the previous chapter Abram’s father had come east out of modern-day Iraq (Ur of the Chaldeans). Here God calls Abram, and commands him, with his nomadic family unit, to go into Palestine and then to the desert-like region south, the Negeb. Along the way Abram sets up altars for sacrifice in thanksgiving and prays to God for direction.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 33:12-13, 18-19, 20 and 22
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
From heaven the LORD looks down;
he sees all mankind.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
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Commentary on Ps 33:12-13, 18-19, 20 and 22
Psalm 33 is a hymn of praise. These strophes rejoice in the active help God gives to his chosen people. God is constantly watching over his faithful people. His outstretched hand is visible most clearly in times of dire need. The singer petitions the Lord to continue his kindness to those whose hope is in the Lord.
Gospel: Matthew 7:1-5
"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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Commentary on Mt 7:1-5
The beginning of the seventh chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel finds Jesus teaching his disciples about being judgmental. They are told to first look at their own transgressions before judging others. “This is not a prohibition against recognizing the faults of others, which would be hardly compatible with Matthew 7:5 and 6, but against passing judgment in a spirit of arrogance, forgetful of one's own faults.” [5] “Jesus’ teaching on judgment is two-sided. He condemns judging others' faults (vs. 1-2; Luke 6:37). We are incapable of judging with fairness and accuracy since God alone knows the heart (Proverbs 21:2; Luke 16:15). However, Jesus commands us to exercise critical discernment (Matthew 7:6; 15-19; 1 Thessalonians 5:21). Examination is necessary to avoid profaning what is holy (7:6) and embracing what is false (7:15).” [6]
“A person whose sight is distorted sees things as deformed, even though in fact they are not deformed. St. Augustine gives this advice: 'Try to acquire those virtues which you think your brothers lack, and you will no longer see their defects, because you will not have them yourselves' ("Enarrationes In Psalmos", 30, 2, 7). In this connection, the saying, 'A thief thinks that everyone else is a thief" is in line with this teaching of Jesus.” [7]
“The greatest deed of Christian charity is forgiveness, and if I must live a life of forgiving others, as Christ teaches, this is not on account of my goodness of heart but out of my own humble consciousness of being continually forgiven by God.” [8]
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Reflection:
Our observations often cause us to identify or stereotype a person (or group) based upon actions we observe and judge to violate our norms of behavior. For instance, in the opening scene of the 1964 epic film Zulu, a missionary and his daughter are in a Zulu village witnessing a mass marriage between around fifty warriors and their prospective brides. From the perspective of the missionary’s daughter these people are barbarian – sinful because of several cultural factors. Yet in the eyes of the people themselves they are being quite moral.
This theatrical example is brought into sharper relief when applied to individuals or groups we might encounter. In a more recent and nonfictional example, a man was reported to have attempted a robbery at a convenience store in suburban Detroit, Michigan. The owner of the store (of Arabic descent – highlighting yet another stereotype) refused to give the man the money from his cash register, whereupon the would-be robber dropped to his knees sobbing saying he was sorry, but he had lost his job and had only resorted to stealing to feed his family. The shop owner had pity on the man and gave him a loaf of bread, twenty dollars, and allowed him to leave. We could judge the man who tried to rob the store as a thief who deserved to be incarcerated. We could judge the shop owner as having done the “Christian” thing, and in both cases we may have been wrong.
In this example, we see clearly the link between the Lord’s prohibition against being judgmental and his exhortation about forgiveness. While we do not have the authority or the wisdom to judge others, we do have the ability and the responsibility to forgive those who may have harmed us. The logic of one supports the other. Since we cannot know the heart of the person who causes us injury, we may only forgive them.
Today, Jesus tells us to avoid being judgmental of others. We who have sinned do not have the right to judge the sins of others; that is for the one who is without sin. May we take his words to heart and in place of our rush to judgment may we rush to forgive.
Pax
[1] The picture is: ”Christ the Judge” by Laurent de La Hire, c. 1640.
[2] S.S. Commemoratio
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] The Navarre Bible: “Pentateuch,” Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, p. 86.
[5] NAB footnote on Matthew 7:1-12.
[6] Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, © 2010, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA. p.18.
[7] The Navarre Bible, “Gospels and Acts,” Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002, p. 95.
[8] Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word Volume I, Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, © 1996 p. 292.
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