INTERNal GUIlT
“Has no one condemned you?”….“Neither do I condemn you.” – John 8:10, 11
I received a Powerpoint file in my email that started with stories of people who met dire consequences because they didn’t forward a poem. Then the writer continued and closed with an exhortation on how we should take every opportunity to love. A friend asked what I thought about the chain letter and I replied, “If lightning would strike me every time I fail to love, I would have been dead a long time ago.”
“God alone is the judge and searcher of hearts; for that reason he forbids us to make judgments about the internal guilt of anyone” (Gaudium et Spes 28:2). It’s easy to ask others to be loving yet fail to do so ourselves. As I have slowly learned of my own weakness, I’ve become more lenient of others — not to judge them as harshly as I would like to do.
If Jesus didn’t condemn the woman in our Gospel today — and He was the only one who has the right to do so — who are we to say otherwise? Ours is to follow His final exhortation, “Sin no more.”Joy Sosoban
REFLECTION:
Do I have the tendency to be self-righteous?
Grant me, O Lord, Your merciful heart.
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