20170626
THE COMPLEXITY OF DISCERNMENT AND JUDGMENT
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
|
First reading
|
Genesis 12:1-9 ©
|
The Lord said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your family and your
father’s house, for the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I
will bless you and make your name so famous that it will be used as a blessing.
‘I will bless those who bless you:
I will curse those who slight you.
All the tribes of the earth
shall bless themselves by you.’
So Abram went as the Lord told him, and Lot went with him. Abram
was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai, his
nephew Lot, all the possessions they had amassed and the people they had
acquired in Haran. They set off for the land of Canaan, and arrived there.
Abram passed
through the land as far as Shechem’s holy place, the Oak of Moreh. At that time
the Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘It is to
your descendants that I will give this land.’ So Abram built there an altar for
the Lord who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the mountainous
district east of Bethel, where he pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and
Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the
Lord. Then Abram made his way stage by stage to the Negeb.
|
Responsorial Psalm
|
|
Psalm 32(33):12-13,18-20,22 ©
|
Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.
They are happy, whose God is the Lord,
the people he has chosen as his own.
From the heavens the Lord looks forth,
he sees all the children of men.
Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.
The Lord looks on those who revere him,
on those who hope in his love,
to rescue their souls from death,
to keep them alive in famine.
Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.
Our soul is waiting for the Lord.
The Lord is our help and our shield.
May your love be upon us, O Lord,
as we place all our hope in you.
Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.
|
Gospel Acclamation
|
Jn17:17
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your word is truth, O Lord:
consecrate us in the truth.
Alleluia!
|
Or
|
Heb4:12
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
The word of God is something alive and active:
it can judge secret emotions and thoughts.
Alleluia!
|
Gospel
|
Matthew 7:1-5 ©
|
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Do not judge, and you will not be
judged; because the judgements you give are the judgements you will get, and
the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given. Why do you observe
the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the plank in your own? How
dare you say to your brother, “Let me take the splinter out of your eye,” when
all the time there is a plank in your own? Hypocrite! Take the plank out of
your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter
out of your brother’s eye.’
THE COMPLEXITY OF DISCERNMENT AND JUDGMENT
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Gn 12:1-9; PS 32:12-13,18-20,22; Mt 7:1-5 ]
Jesus said to
his disciples: “Do not judge and you will not be judged.” This
exhortation of Jesus does not mean that we have to dispense judgement in all
forms and at all times. We need to discern and make judgement every day,
from personal matters at home to work and society. No one can live
without making judgments. In fact, not to discern and judge,
especially when we are in position of authority, would be irresponsible.
However, we
must be responsible in judgment. This is what Jesus is warning
us. This is “because the judgments you will give are the judgments that
you will get, and the amount you measure out is the amount you will be
given.” In other words, how we judge or fail to judge will determine how
others will judge us. In our judgments, we reveal to people who we
really are, our thinking and our values and most of all our heart.
So the point is not that we should not judge but how we should judge.
Because judgment
is rather complex, we must avoid the pitfalls of making rash and
sweeping judgments on people and situations. Indeed, the
greatest pitfall in making judgment is prejudice and fear. This
prejudice comes from the conditioning of our past and the fear of the
future. This explains why Jesus warned us, “Why do you observe the
splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the plank in your own?
How dare you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye’,
when all the time there is a plank in your own? Hypocrite! Take the
plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take
the splinter out of your brother’s eye.”
Truly, in our
judgments most of us are coloured by our past experiences, bad or good.
Negative experiences make us negative towards new situations. Positive
experiences make us willing to trust and be more receptive. Of course,
more often than not it is our fear of the future that makes us judge in a
certain way. We all have our fears and we want to protect our turf.
Thus, we tend to judge a situation in favour of our interests. Quite
often, much as we try to remain objective, we are also motivated by our
interests and hindered by our insecurity and anxiety. We never see things
as they are but as we are! So we need to remove the plank of prejudice
from our eyes first.
How, then, do
we overcome our prejudices in rendering judgment? Firstly, the only judgment
we are permitted is objective judgement based on facts. We can only
read the facts and come to a conclusion. But we cannot determine the real
motive of a person. His conscience is between him and God alone.
For this reason, St Paul also asked us to leave judgment to God.
“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; for it is
written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ No, if your enemy is
hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will
heap burning coals upon his head.” (Rom 12:9-20)
Judgement is therefore always objective and based on external forum. We
can only say that an action is wrong but we cannot come to a conclusion that
the person is a sinner or meant evil. Only God knows his heart and
intentions.
Secondly, our
judgment must not be one that destroys but builds. That is to say,
passing judgment is to help a person to become better and not to destroy
him. Often unconsciously, we say negative things about a person because
we feel threatened. We need to put the person down in order to make us
feel better. In our judgment of others, the motive must always be to help
and to improve. Judgment is never destructive but always
constructive. It is to make things better not make things worse.
So in making
decisions we must ask whether that decision is truly for the good of others or
for ourselves. If a judgment is made to protect our interests, then such a
judgment is skewed. This is true especially when we are asked to take up
an appointment or an office. Do you agree because it benefits us or
because it benefits the people under our care? Our motives must be
selfless and be other-centered.
Thirdly, in
judgment, we must never make it alone without the help of others. It
is our duty to consult others as well; especially those who are able to help us
to make proper judgment. Consultation helps us to see the situation from
different perspectives and angles. Otherwise, we might allow our past
experiences to limit us in our judgment. All of us are limited by our
experiences and our fears. So to ensure that our judgment takes into
consideration all the perspectives, no one should judge without proper
consultation. This is especially true for those in authority.
Fourthly, we
must consult God in prayer. In all judgment, we need to bring God into the
picture. All judgement must take place in prayer. We need to
bring our judgments to God in prayer, and ask for the grace to remove the
blindness from our eyes, the fears from our heart so that we can look at every
situation objectively without personal interest. Using scriptures for
discernment is ideal because “the word of God is something alive and active: it
can judge secret emotions and thoughts.” (Heb 4:12)
We need to put on the mind of Christ and with the heart of Jesus look at the
situation and at people. The only judgment that is permitted is a
judgment from the perspective of Christ, which is one of compassion,
understanding and forgiveness. Jesus does not condemn people, not even
sinners. But He seeks to understand them and reach out to them.
Even if He were harsh with the religious leaders, it was because He loved them
and wanted to shake them out of their blindness and hypocrisy.
However, if
judgment were that simple, then life would be so easy. The truth
is that judgment is not always logical. This was the case of
Abraham. We read that he was already old and a wealthy man too at the
time when the Lord spoke to him. Logically, it would have been foolish for
Abram to begin a new life when he should be retiring gracefully. It was
not that he was poor but he was living a comfortable life. At that age,
who would want to start life all over again, when one is not even sure how more
years one has left. Objectively, he was foolish to take the risk and
uproot his family, venturing to a place they did not know. But he did!
This brings
us to another level of judgment from the perspective of faith. Abram heard God
saying to him, “Leave your country, your family and your father’s house, for
the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless
you and make your name so famous that it will be used as a blessing. I
will bless those who bless you: I will curse those who slight you. All the
tribes of the earth shall bless themselves by you.” On the basis of
God’s promises, he obeyed the voice of God. He trusted in God’s promises
and he realized God’s promises by obedience in faith.
Most of us are
insecure and want to protect our interests. We walk by sight rather than by
faith, Abram teaches us that sometimes in life God wants us to give up our
security and human reasoning and simply trust Him alone. He wants to give
us new opportunities and a greater life ahead of us. But so long as we
want to cling to what is familiar, then we will miss the great opportunities
that God wishes to give to us. Thus, we need to have faith, to respond to
such a call from the Lord. It takes courage. It involves risks and
trust. But without faith, we will never be able to find true happiness in
life.
The judgment
on the level of faith must of course take place in prayer. This aspect of
judgment presumes a special revelation from the Lord which normally takes place
in a religious encounter. All great saints, founders of religious orders
and great leaders are often inspired by God. In the final analysis, prayer is
the most critical part of discernment and judgment. For this reason, we
read that wherever Abram went, he would erect an altar to the Lord. The
altar is not simply a place of communion with God but also a reminder of His
love and fidelity to us. This explains why most shrines are erected as a
consequence of a religious experience that occurred, whether an apparition or
some deep religious encounter.
Of course, even
in prayer, we can also deceive ourselves. Many tell us that the Lord
is telling them to do this and that. More often than not, they lack depth
and maturity in prayer. At times they are praying to themselves rather
than listening to God. Personal discernment requires consultation with
authorities and deeply spiritually matured Christians who can guide us to
discern objectively and hear the voice of God. In most instances, when a
judgment is correct, it would resonate with most people and confirmed by the
authorities. When our judgment is not aligned to the established
objective laws provided in the scriptures and the rightful appointed authority,
in humility we must discern further. We must not allow presumption and
pride to blind us in our judgment as we will only hurt ourselves and
others. Even great saints and charismatic leaders in their inspiration to
do something great would often turn to legitimate authority for endorsement as
a sign of God’s confirmation. When what we decide is against appointed
authority, we must understand that obedience is what the Lord asks of us as in
the case of Abram.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment