Monday, March 17, 2003
2^nd Week of Lent

1st Reading: Dan 9:4-10
Gospel: Lk 6:36-38

Jesus said to his disciples, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

“Don’t be a judge of others and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven; give and it will be given to you, and you will receive in your sack good measure, pressed down, full and running over. For the measure you give will be the measure you receive back.”

Commentary

Our life is a constant exercise in judgement: in distinguishing what is good from what is bad, in discerning which kind of life we wish to create for ourselves. From the day we are born to our last breath, we judge. Hence, Jesus’ exhortation in today’s gospel reading, that we should not judge, must not be understood to mean that every process of discernment should be abandoned. Rather, it should be understood to mean that if we do judge we should see to it that the measure by which we gauge accepting others is the same measure we would use on ourselves. There are occasions when we do tend to be too demanding of others while too lax and undemanding of ourselves. That would not only be unfair in Jesus’ mind, it would also be hypocritical. Justice and fairness after all, are the measure by which we shall all be judged in the end.

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