Jesus told us in no uncertain terms that we are not to judge others, but how often do you find yourself judging others’ actions, opinions, or state in life? In many cases, we want to help people to move toward a better path, but we fear that doing so means we’re judgmental. So how can we tell the difference between judging and loving?

Sr. Bridget Haase stopped by Morning Air® where she suggested asking yourself some questions to determine whether or not your thoughts come from a place of judgement or love.

Do I Know Their Story?
Do I really know someone’s story before I evaluate them? … We look at someone’s face, and we ask ourselves, ‘Do I really know that story before I evaluate?’

Knowing people’s stories and seeing their face in a different way – to see the face of Christ – isn’t easy, but I think that’s what we’re called to do.

Do I Think I’m Better Than Them?
I think we have to ask ourselves, before God, very honestly – how often do I tell God I am not like others? If we tell God we are not like other people – I work and they don’t work, I have a home and they don’t have a home, whatever it is – we have become a Pharisee. We have become that Pharisee in the Temple who says, ‘Thank God I am not like the rest of people.’

And so I think that is very, very important. That we realize the gifts we have have been given. Other people may not have been given the gifts. We look at all of Scripture and we realize that Jesus is the key. Not only are we judged on love (Matthew 25) but it says when we have done everything we thought we could do, we remain an unprofitable servant. And that goes for all of us.

Do I Savor the Faults of Others?
Do I really savor the lack of good qualities in others? Do I say, ‘Ah ha! That person doesn’t do this, or does that.’ And yet, what we do or we fail to do we ask forgiveness for at every Holy Mass.

St. Francis de Sales says that we can’t be the Pharisees, but we also cannot use our holiness and amuse ourselves by what we see as the faults in others. We cannot allow our hearts to be hardened. And that, I think is the key.

We always have to have a heart of flesh. And what it means is we’re going to get hurt, we’re going to make the wrong decisions, and that we reach out to people who might not care. We have to allow ourselves to be human, but we have been tagged by the Spirit, and we are all in this together.

Listen to the full conversation with Sr. Bridget Haase below:

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