God’s criteria and ours. Which is more correct?

God judges – not by our criteria, but by His. And He says you are not to judge your brother but to lovingly admonish, encourage, and pray for him. God will also believe me and not compare me to how others are doing, but each one will be considered for himself. We must reshape what is happening around us that is wrong; we must take the attitude of those actively creating and not those passively waiting to see what happens next. We must become prophets of the times – teachers who know God’s will for us and the world and what He wants us to do. To be a prophet in this world requires listening to God and doing what He desires.

How and whether to listen to God today… we can tell by example and the lessons learned from it. An Indian Catholic priest recalls an incident at the Bombay airport. The queue stopped before him for a long time at the security check. For there stood a young European man, holding a mouse in his hand and with a snake around his neck, dressed in Hindu robes, with ashes on his forehead, talking to the policeman: “Let me get in with these gods.” The line was stopped, and irritated people shouted at the policeman to throw the young man out. A priest standing just behind him began to pray for the man, and God showed him his name and identity. He laid His hand on him and said: “Joseph, are you not a German Catholic? How humiliating is holding these two creatures and saying they are your gods?” The man asked, shocked: “How do you know me?” The priest pulled out a cross and showed it to him, saying, “This is your God. He died on the cross for you and me. He loves you.” The two men boarded the plane, and the flight ended with Holy Confession, receiving Jesus in the Eucharist and finding true peace and joy.

Who can help us recognize the quills in our inner sight? The Law, the commandments by which we show our dependence on and love for God, helps us know the plummeting stones. In what way can these “stones” be selected? This is only possible by an attitude of repentance, of true conversion, in which I look in truth at what I am. God’s Word says to us that we are all sinners. We are not to be the judge of our neighbor because we are sinners. What are we to do? Jesus came to save us, to set us free from sin. He, who is here among us today, points out to us by the light of His Spirit our sins, our hurts, our fears, our prejudices so that we may recognize them and turn them over to Him. The result will be a sight that will be clearer, and you will know yourself better and judge your neighbor less because you will see him as a brother, a sister, and you will not condemn, reject, or despise him. If you know the evil he does, please be sure to tell him and encourage him to do better.

Let us allow Jesus to guide life’s journey, for He knows how to eternal life. Let us accept the law of love that he offers us as the law by which we want to act.