Arguably, one of the most notable quotes the mainstream media has attributed to Pope Francis concerned an observation he made on his return trip from the World Youth Day in Brazil. That observation was masked in the form of a question: “Who am I to judge?”
In fact, the Pope was responding to a reporter’s question about claims that Monsignor Battista Ricca—whom Pope Francis had chosen to head up the so-called “Pope’s Bank” (the Institute for the Works of Religion)—had engaged in homosexual activity decades ago while stationed in Paraguay. The Pope replied:
I have acted in accordance with Canon Law and ordered an investigation.
None of the accusations against him have proved to be true. We haven’t
found anything! It is often the case in the Church that people try to dig
up sins committed during a person’s youth and then publish them. We
are not talking about crimes or offences such as child abuse which is a
whole different matter, we are talking about sins. If a lay person, a priest
or a nun commits a sin and then repents of it and confesses, the Lord
forgives and forgets. And we have no right not to forget, because then
we risk the Lord not forgetting our own sins. I often think of St. Peter
who committed the biggest sin of all, he denied Jesus. And yet he was
appointed Pope. But I repeat, we have found no evidence against
Monsignor Ricca.
“If a lay person, a priest or a nun commits a sin and then repents of it and confesses, the Lord forgives and forgets. And we have no right not to forget, because then we risk the Lord not forgetting our own sins.” That’s not a statement condoning sin, but sound pastoral teaching.
The Pope then followed up by stating in response to a reporter’s question about the so-called “gay lobby” in the Vatican:
There is so much being written about the gay lobby. I haven’t met
anyone in the Vatican yet who has “gay” written on their identity cards.
There is a distinction between being gay, being this way inclined and
lobbying. Lobbies are not good. If a gay person is in eager search of
God, who am I to judge them? The Catholic Church teaches that gay
people should not be discriminated against; they should be made to
feel welcome. Being gay is not the problem, lobbying is the problem
and this goes for any type of lobby, business lobbies, political lobbies
and Masonic lobbies. (italics added)
My point in bringing up these quotes is neither to defend Pope Francis nor to denounce the mainstream media which appears to have seized upon one selective quote to push an agenda that has absolutely nothing to do with what the Pope either said or intended. My point is to bring attention to how all of the discussion he engendered about “judge not, lest you be judged” is to the heart of today’s scripture readings.
The first reading, taken from the Book of Wisdom, describes God as the Judge. However, this Judge is not to be feared because God is a just judge whose primary concern is His care for the welfare of all His human creatures. Because of God’s primary motive is one of care, this Judge is lenient, demonstrating His power over His human creatures only if and when necessary. Test God’s patience as His human creatures might, this Judge always demonstrates mercy because he will always care for them, give them hope, and accept their sincere apologies.
For human beings to live wisely—the primary concern of the Book of Wisdom—is live in way that’s pleasing to God. In this instance, living wisely requires imitating God in the way He judges His human creatures. The wise are kind, they give hope to those who test their patience, and they accept sincere apologies.
In today’s gospel, Jesus builds upon this this idea, using parables to teach about God as the Judge at the end time, that is, when time has run out, when excuses will no longer suffice, and the facts are established forever. That’s when this Judge—who knows what’s in the hearts of His human creatures—will separate the “wheat” from the “tares,” that is, the good from the bad.
Let us recall, however, that Jesus is describing the events that will transpire at the end time, the “harvest.”
While we may be living in the end time—after all, who’s to know?—it’s more likely that these are the “in between” times Jesus was describing. Through the Law, the Prophets, and in His only begotten Son, God has provided His human creatures all they need to know how to live wisely in these in between times. Yet, is it not true that each of us has failed to live wisely in preparation for the end time by neglecting to heed the Law, the Prophets, and Jesus’ teaching?
Even so, how easily we judge others for their failure to live wisely! How easily we exclude others from our lives because of their failures! As our standard of judgment, we use an “either/or” mentality. Either you’re good or you’re not. If you’re good, then I accept you. If you’re not, then you’re not worthy of my care. Perhaps we’ve made these judgments about family members, neighbors, parishioners, co-workers, politicians, as well as members of the clergy. No matter who they are, we’ve judged that they’re completely bad—chaff—having no possible hope of salvation. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we’ve devoured the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and have duped ourselves into believing that we are God—the Judge of good and evil—especially when it comes to our right to scrutinize and judge the conduct of others.
In these in between times when the prevailing culture is so secular and so materialistic, we all know from our personal experience how difficult it is to live wisely by remaining faithful to what God has revealed in the Law, the Prophets, and in His only Begotten Son. But, if we don’t provide others who have also been unfaithful sufficient reason to be faithful and give them the hope they need to live wisely, we are judging as God will do at the end time, not as God judges us in these in between times by being kind to us, giving us hope, and accepting our sincere apologies.
As Pope Francis reminded those members of the mainstream media covering his trip back to Rome from Brazil, if those individuals are eagerly searching for God, who is anyone of us—who also have sinned—to judge them?
Before purging others from our lives during these in between times, today’s scripture reminds us to take a look inward at ourselves not outward at others. Our challenge is to realize that we’re not quite as perfect as the judgments we make of others suggest we are. We must judge, purge, and cast sin out of our souls and resist the temptation to judge, to purge, and to cast out others for their sins. The simple truth is that when we persist in attempting to do what is God’s alone to do, we are putting the salvation Jesus won for us at grave risk.
In 1844, the Anglican priest Henry Alford wrote what became a popular hymn based on today’s gospel, titled “Come, Ye Thankful People Come.” We’ve sung it here at our parish, usually at Thanksgiving time. In light of today’s scripture, consider what Alford’s poem—the hymn’s stanzas—state:
Come, ye thankful people, come,
raise the song of harvest home;
all is safely gathered in,
ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide,
for our want to be supplied;
come to God’s own temple, come,
raise the song of harvest home.
All the world is God’s own field,
fruit as praise to God we yield;
wheat and tares together sown,
are to joy or sorrow grown;
first the blade and then the ear,
then the full corn shall appear;
Lord of harvest, grant that we,
wholesome grain may be.
For the Lord our God shall come,
and shall take the harvest home;
from the field shall in that day,
all offenses purge away,
giving angels charge at last,
in the fire the tares to cast,
but the fruitful ears to store,
in the garner evermore.
Alford captures the theme of today’s scripture well: God is the Judge and will do so in the end time. In these in between times, our challenge is to recognize our lack of faithfulness as well as to experience God’s continuing care for us when we admit and sincerely apologize for our failure. This recognition and experience will teach the wise among us of our responsibility to care for others when they fail. Like us, they will recognize their lack of faithfulness as well as experience God’s continuing care for them when they admit and sincerely apologize for their failure. Then, at the end time, God—just Judge that He is—will separate us and them—“the fruitful ears”—from the tares so the angels can store all of us “in the garner evermore.”
In fact, the Pope was responding to a reporter’s question about claims that Monsignor Battista Ricca—whom Pope Francis had chosen to head up the so-called “Pope’s Bank” (the Institute for the Works of Religion)—had engaged in homosexual activity decades ago while stationed in Paraguay. The Pope replied:
I have acted in accordance with Canon Law and ordered an investigation.
None of the accusations against him have proved to be true. We haven’t
found anything! It is often the case in the Church that people try to dig
up sins committed during a person’s youth and then publish them. We
are not talking about crimes or offences such as child abuse which is a
whole different matter, we are talking about sins. If a lay person, a priest
or a nun commits a sin and then repents of it and confesses, the Lord
forgives and forgets. And we have no right not to forget, because then
we risk the Lord not forgetting our own sins. I often think of St. Peter
who committed the biggest sin of all, he denied Jesus. And yet he was
appointed Pope. But I repeat, we have found no evidence against
Monsignor Ricca.
“If a lay person, a priest or a nun commits a sin and then repents of it and confesses, the Lord forgives and forgets. And we have no right not to forget, because then we risk the Lord not forgetting our own sins.” That’s not a statement condoning sin, but sound pastoral teaching.
The Pope then followed up by stating in response to a reporter’s question about the so-called “gay lobby” in the Vatican:
There is so much being written about the gay lobby. I haven’t met
anyone in the Vatican yet who has “gay” written on their identity cards.
There is a distinction between being gay, being this way inclined and
lobbying. Lobbies are not good. If a gay person is in eager search of
God, who am I to judge them? The Catholic Church teaches that gay
people should not be discriminated against; they should be made to
feel welcome. Being gay is not the problem, lobbying is the problem
and this goes for any type of lobby, business lobbies, political lobbies
and Masonic lobbies. (italics added)
My point in bringing up these quotes is neither to defend Pope Francis nor to denounce the mainstream media which appears to have seized upon one selective quote to push an agenda that has absolutely nothing to do with what the Pope either said or intended. My point is to bring attention to how all of the discussion he engendered about “judge not, lest you be judged” is to the heart of today’s scripture readings.
The first reading, taken from the Book of Wisdom, describes God as the Judge. However, this Judge is not to be feared because God is a just judge whose primary concern is His care for the welfare of all His human creatures. Because of God’s primary motive is one of care, this Judge is lenient, demonstrating His power over His human creatures only if and when necessary. Test God’s patience as His human creatures might, this Judge always demonstrates mercy because he will always care for them, give them hope, and accept their sincere apologies.
For human beings to live wisely—the primary concern of the Book of Wisdom—is live in way that’s pleasing to God. In this instance, living wisely requires imitating God in the way He judges His human creatures. The wise are kind, they give hope to those who test their patience, and they accept sincere apologies.
In today’s gospel, Jesus builds upon this this idea, using parables to teach about God as the Judge at the end time, that is, when time has run out, when excuses will no longer suffice, and the facts are established forever. That’s when this Judge—who knows what’s in the hearts of His human creatures—will separate the “wheat” from the “tares,” that is, the good from the bad.
Let us recall, however, that Jesus is describing the events that will transpire at the end time, the “harvest.”
While we may be living in the end time—after all, who’s to know?—it’s more likely that these are the “in between” times Jesus was describing. Through the Law, the Prophets, and in His only begotten Son, God has provided His human creatures all they need to know how to live wisely in these in between times. Yet, is it not true that each of us has failed to live wisely in preparation for the end time by neglecting to heed the Law, the Prophets, and Jesus’ teaching?
Even so, how easily we judge others for their failure to live wisely! How easily we exclude others from our lives because of their failures! As our standard of judgment, we use an “either/or” mentality. Either you’re good or you’re not. If you’re good, then I accept you. If you’re not, then you’re not worthy of my care. Perhaps we’ve made these judgments about family members, neighbors, parishioners, co-workers, politicians, as well as members of the clergy. No matter who they are, we’ve judged that they’re completely bad—chaff—having no possible hope of salvation. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we’ve devoured the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and have duped ourselves into believing that we are God—the Judge of good and evil—especially when it comes to our right to scrutinize and judge the conduct of others.
In these in between times when the prevailing culture is so secular and so materialistic, we all know from our personal experience how difficult it is to live wisely by remaining faithful to what God has revealed in the Law, the Prophets, and in His only Begotten Son. But, if we don’t provide others who have also been unfaithful sufficient reason to be faithful and give them the hope they need to live wisely, we are judging as God will do at the end time, not as God judges us in these in between times by being kind to us, giving us hope, and accepting our sincere apologies.
As Pope Francis reminded those members of the mainstream media covering his trip back to Rome from Brazil, if those individuals are eagerly searching for God, who is anyone of us—who also have sinned—to judge them?
Before purging others from our lives during these in between times, today’s scripture reminds us to take a look inward at ourselves not outward at others. Our challenge is to realize that we’re not quite as perfect as the judgments we make of others suggest we are. We must judge, purge, and cast sin out of our souls and resist the temptation to judge, to purge, and to cast out others for their sins. The simple truth is that when we persist in attempting to do what is God’s alone to do, we are putting the salvation Jesus won for us at grave risk.
In 1844, the Anglican priest Henry Alford wrote what became a popular hymn based on today’s gospel, titled “Come, Ye Thankful People Come.” We’ve sung it here at our parish, usually at Thanksgiving time. In light of today’s scripture, consider what Alford’s poem—the hymn’s stanzas—state:
Come, ye thankful people, come,
raise the song of harvest home;
all is safely gathered in,
ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide,
for our want to be supplied;
come to God’s own temple, come,
raise the song of harvest home.
All the world is God’s own field,
fruit as praise to God we yield;
wheat and tares together sown,
are to joy or sorrow grown;
first the blade and then the ear,
then the full corn shall appear;
Lord of harvest, grant that we,
wholesome grain may be.
For the Lord our God shall come,
and shall take the harvest home;
from the field shall in that day,
all offenses purge away,
giving angels charge at last,
in the fire the tares to cast,
but the fruitful ears to store,
in the garner evermore.
Alford captures the theme of today’s scripture well: God is the Judge and will do so in the end time. In these in between times, our challenge is to recognize our lack of faithfulness as well as to experience God’s continuing care for us when we admit and sincerely apologize for our failure. This recognition and experience will teach the wise among us of our responsibility to care for others when they fail. Like us, they will recognize their lack of faithfulness as well as experience God’s continuing care for them when they admit and sincerely apologize for their failure. Then, at the end time, God—just Judge that He is—will separate us and them—“the fruitful ears”—from the tares so the angels can store all of us “in the garner evermore.”
Comments or questions?
Did today’s homily raise any question(s) you would like me to respond to? Mail your question(s) by double clicking on the mailbox and I will respond to your question(s) at my first available opportunity.