Love, not Judgment

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Happy Sunday! What a beautiful day outside! Yesterday was cloudy and rainy all day. Today, I woke up to a sunny Sunday morning on my way to the most beautiful celebration between heaven and earth!!! Praise God!

Today's Gospel was about removing whatever causes you to sin. Figure out whatever it is that divides you and God... now work with all your mind, body, and soul to remove it. Get rid of it. The love of God is so powerful and so pure that to be united with Him in love is the greatest ecstasy that humans can experience. The first reading was about ministry in the name of the Lord.

"For whoever is not against us is for us." Mk 9:40.

What a joy to know we have such support! That means that whoever is not against Christ's message to "Repent", is for it. This support is shown in love.

One thing that I have noticed and felt in the past few days here at the Abbey is judgment. I know it happens everywhere, not just here. The fact that it happens here is the basis for this blog.

Brothers and Sisters, we are called to LOVE.

Matthew, in chapter 7, verse 1, says:

"Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you."

We can't love God if we're hating others. Don't judge your brothers and sisters in Christ... whoever is not against us is for us. To be an effective witness for Christ, we have to spread love.

Martin Luther King Jr. says "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

When the Pharisees and the Sadducees asked Jesus what the greatest commandment is, he said "You shall love the Lord, you God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." Matthew 22: 37-40.

Our generation is looking for love. We need to show them the true love that is found in Jesus Christ. "Be the change you wish to see in the world" - Ghandi

Please, I beg you, love each other. Judgmental glares and hateful words can wound people to the core. In the world we live in today, single actions by the faithful can drive hesitant believers away from the church.

I stumble and fall in the journey too. Remember, Jesus fell three times on the way to His crucifixion. Nobody's perfect. I'm not trying to raise myself up with this blog so please don't take it as preaching. I'm trying to spread the love of Christ.

I'll leave you with this meditation on Christ's third fall.

Our Lord falls for the third time, on the slope leading up to Calvary, with only forty or fifty paces between him and the summit. Jesus can no longer stay on his feet: his strength has failed him, and he lies on the ground in utter exhaustion.

He offered himself up because it was his will; abused and ill-treated, he opened not his mouth, as a sheep led to the slaughter, dumb as a lamb before its shearers (Is 53:7).

Everyone against him.. the people of the city and those from abroad, and the Pharisees and the soldiers and the chief priest.... All of them executioners. His mother--my mother--weeps.

Jesus fulfills the will of his Father! Poor; naked. Generous: what is there left for him to surrender? "He loved me and delivered himself up unto death for me--Gal 2:20.

My God! May I hate sin and unite myself to you, taking the holy cross into my arms, so that I, in my turn, may fulfill your most lovable will, ... stripped of every earthly attachment, with no other goal but your glory,... generously, not keeping anything back, offering myself with you in a perfect holocaust.

-Meditation taken from the Stations of the Cross in the Daily Roman Missal.