Refraining from Passing Judgment

Greetings fellow Network of Love Lovers!

Thursday. It has been one long and tiring week for me here in seminary. But today is a day I look forward to. We celebrate "St. Joseph's Day," in honor of Joseph, the husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus. I look forward to the day because there are several priests from the Milwaukee Archdiocese coming down to visit me (on this feast day our seminary community annually invites priests who have helped guide us along our path of discernment). Amidst the grind of this week, this day, I hope, can bring some kind of soothing consolation to all of us here.

Reflection:

This is taken, yet again, from Action, a prayer book written by Jesuit priest Mark Link. I'm actually going to quote the page verbatim and use it as the reflection for today (pg. 95 in the Action book...not that I should worry about plagarism!) I thought the excerpt worked well as a follow up to a previous posting I wrote regarding trying my best to stop judging other people during Lent. Needless to say, I'm still judging people. But this is a journey...

Jesus was driving out a demon....
The crowds were amazed,
but some of the people said,
"It is Beelzebul, the chief of the demons,
who gives him the power." (Luke Chapt. 11: 14 - 15).

A retired couple was neither well off nor financially strapped. Their hobby was raising chickens and vegetable. Whenever someone came to buy fresh eggs or vegetables, they always charged full market price. They didn't give a penny discount---This caused some people to accuse them of being greedy. Later it was discovered that the retired couple gave all income from their vegetables and eggs to two poor families living nearby.

How prone am I to pass judgment---especially negative judgment---on the actions of other people? How might I improve in this area?

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them." (Mother Theresa)