The Measure With Which You Measure
September 13, 2023
Fr. John Riccardo
Brothers and sisters: None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For this is why Christ died and came to life, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
Romans 14:7-9
God reveals to us in the Letter to the Hebrews that “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (4:12). I would suggest we take that to heart this week as we prepare for Mass and for the Word God is going to personally speak to us in all three readings. May they pierce us to the core.
Ours is a scandal and gossip loving culture. Even as I write this, I just finished coming across no less than ten stories covering the fall from grace of a nationally known figure. What happened in this person’s situation, or at least appears to have happened, is sinful, to be sure. But each of the stories I came across were written with a sense of indignation, a holier than thou attitude of, “I would never do something like he did!”
Really?
Now, the readings this week come right on the heels of Jesus’ words to us in the Gospel last week about the need for loving and fraternal correction, so we needn’t fall into the extreme of “live and let live.” Yes, out of love, we should correct our brothers and sisters, gently and graciously, when they are doing things that harm themselves and others. But we should never do so with some lofty sense of moral superiority and without remembering that God has been oh so good to us.
Some of us have very ugly pasts that God in His mercy has remarkably forgiven. Others of us because of that same mercy have been spared very ugly pasts. That said, we’re all in this together. “No one is righteous,” Scripture says, “No, not one (Rom 3:9).
Unfortunately, it’s not just traditional media that is scandal and gossip loving. Much of the “media” in the Church doesn’t seem to be all that different from the wider culture at large.
Timely, then, are the readings for Mass this week, for they are all related to the topics of mercy, forgiveness and judgment. Even this passage from Romans comes in the context of Paul warning the community to be very careful in their behavior towards one another, lest they end up passing judgment on the servant of another (i.e.,God). The very next verses in Romans 14 go on to say, “Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,
‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So then each of us will give an account of himself to God” (10-12).
Jesus warns us, “The way you judge others is how you will be judged — the measure with which you measure out will be used to measure you” (Matthew 7:2). Once again, just to be clear, we are to judge actions. Jesus tells us that we judge a tree by its fruits (cf. Mt 7:16). But we cannot judge interiors. I have no access to anyone’s interior. I don’t know the way in which a person might be crying out to God for help, even in the midst of their terrible choices. Sin is, after all, a power, a dominion, an authority that we are powerless to escape on our own, thus our need for a Rescuer to deliver us (cf. Col 1:13).
The Virgin Mary is repeatedly said to have “pondered” God’s word in the Scriptures (cf. Lk 1:29; 2:19). Let’s fervently ask her to intercede for us this week so as to deeply do the same with His words. After all, each of us is one day, and very soon for some of us, going to stand alone before God, our lives laid bare before the King of kings, having to give an account for ourselves.
Wouldn’t it be amazing to hear Him say to us on that day, “You were too merciful?”