Mercifully Giving Love

When we open our hearts, we give.  In whether we give, and with how much love, we ourselves determine how much we will receive.  To enable us to love, we are not to judge.  Rather than judge, we are to forgive.  In deciding not to judge, we give.  In choosing not to judge, we are set to receive.  

And so in today's Gospel reading we hear that 

Jesus said to his disciples:

"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 be measured out to you."*  

If we judge others, we close our hearts to them and refuse to show them compassion.  In judging others, we are not listening to them.  As we judge others, we are deciding that we are not going to learn about them.  

I recently received a lesson about the importance of not judging others.  I've mentioned before a specific homeless woman who I'll call "Roslyn" again here.  For quite a while now I have seen Roslyn take many bottles of water when water is available to her.  Quite recently she told me that she takes so many water bottles because she has only one kidney.  Without knowing this fact, someone could look at her and conclude that she is greedy, selfish and inconsiderate.  Yet she has a particular need for water in a way that most other people do not.  

There is so much we don't know about other people.  Even if we did know everything there is to know about others, still we would not be in a position to judge others.  It is not our job.  Besides, in this life never will we know everything about others.  

Only Jesus knows everything about each of us.  Jesus knows every one of us better than any of us know anyone else.  Thus Jesus judges us according to The Word He has spoken, according to the law of love which is the rule presiding over all of our thoughts, words and actions.  

And so Saint John of the Cross explained, "In the evening of life, we will be judged on our love."  At the end of our lives, we will be judged by how much we have loved.  Thus we will do well to concern ourselves with how much we are loving, and not preoccupy ourselves with judging others.  

We are in a position to love others: the duty of this hour is to love our neighbor as ourselves.**  It is not our duty to judge our neighbor; we are not positioned to judge others.  

Insofar as we are not in a position to judge others, when we catch ourselves judging others, we can follow the example of Pope Francis.  Today, on the fourth anniversary of his becoming pope, we can recall how Pope Francis once asked, "Who am I to judge?"  

In this vein recently I overheard a conversation which has stayed with me.  I heard an addict, in the midst of relapsing, saying to his friend, "Please don't judge me."  His friend gave a reply something like, "I don't have your problem.  I'm not in your position, so I won't judge you."  

Even if we are facing the same type of difficulty as someone else, still we are not in the exact same set of circumstances as someone else.  Each person brings his or her own experiences to what he or she encounters.  Just because we have overcome a certain obstacle, we are not entitled to judge someone else who is struggling with that same challenge.  Rather than judge someone who is falling prey to adversity that we have successfully weathered, instead we can mercifully forgive that person's failings and thus compassionately love that person.  

Saint Teresa of Calcutta pointed out, "If you judge people, you have no time to love them."  If we judge our neighbor, we are enslaving ourselves to our false ideas of our neighbor, and thus we are not free to love our neighbor.  By succumbing to our inaccurate views of our neighbor, we are closing our hearts to love.  However, when we refuse to let our misperceptions dictate our behavior, then we can open our hearts to love our neighbor.  

If we love our neighbor, then we are not judging our neighbor.  If we do not judge, we will not be judged.  If we give mercy, we will receive mercy.  Saint Therese of Lisieux wrote, "It is the Lord, it is Jesus, Who is my judge. Therefore I will try always to think leniently of others, that He may judge me leniently, or rather not at all, since He says: 'Judge not, and ye shall not be judged.'"

In however we think of our neighbor, in any event we give to our neighbor.  Instead of giving judgment to our neighbor, we can give love to our neighbor.   

According to the measure we give, with that same measure will be given to us.  What do we want to receive?  Considering that, let us give out of our hearts accordingly.  

* Luke 6:36-38 

** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14