Monday, April 7, 2008

Rm 14, 10-13 Why then do you judge your brother?

(Rm 14, 10-13) Why then do you judge your brother?
[10] Why then do you judge your brother? Or you, why do you look down on your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God; [11] for it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bend before me, and every tongue shall give praise to God." [12] So (then) each of us shall give an account of himself (to God). [13] Then let us no longer judge one another, but rather resolve never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.
(CCC 2475) Christ's disciples have "put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Eph 4:24). By "putting away falsehood," they are to "put away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander" (Eph 4:25; 1 Pet 2:1). (CCC 2478) To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor's thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way: Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another's statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved (St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, 22).

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