By Fr. Glenn Jones:

Such rhetoric nowadays! It seems that it has become a favorite pastime to find fault … not with oneself (perish the thought!), but rather with others. One misspoken term …. a phrase mangled out of all contextual recognition … and you may be condemned as Satan’s spawn, accusers so often hurling their darts across the protective abyss created by social media or—worse—openly and publicly attacked. Do or write a seemingly-innocuous something-or-other that someone doesn’t like and you’re liable, liable for libel … lawyers a’flockin’ and lawsuits a’flyin’.

One hardly knows what new thing will offend in our day. This or that word or phrase common only a week ago becomes the crime of today. Nowadays we watch the purging of the land of images of persons of history … heroes of yesteryear becoming villains of today … faults magnified under the intense and merciless scrutiny of the moment’s popular lens and self-appointed judges. One wonders who could stand under such scrutiny in our own time and—even more doubtful—under that of future generations. Look closely enough and you’ll find blemishes in the life of just about anyone, reminding us of a Shakespearean sonnet:

Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud;
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,
And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud.
All men make faults.

And yet … as easy as it is to dish out criticism, most of us have experienced at one time or another that some who do so are among the least able to hear it of themselves, rendering self-improvement unlikely at best. As Thomas a’ Kempis, a priest of the Middle Ages, wrote poignantly concerning pride and judgmentalism: “We want to have others strictly reprimanded for their offenses, but we will not be reprimanded ourselves. We are inclined to think the other person has too much liberty but we ourselves will not put up with any restraint. There must be rules for everyone else, but we must be given free rein … [but] No one is without faults…” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Ch. 16). 

Certainly we are wise to tread lightly when judging past generations. Things like slavery and racial bigotry are odious to us now, but we mustn’t disregard the fact that development of civilization, cultures and mores is inevitably time-bound. Will future generations excoriate us for inaction towards the evils of today? Why have we not committed sufficient resources to end child trafficking, or slavery which still exists in the world? And one wonders what actions of society we take for granted today will be viewed as heinous crimes tomorrow. “How could they do/accept that?!” future generations may cry. Are we, then, as in the infamously bizarre Cadaver Trial of Pope Formosus in 897, to be “dug up” for the passing of judgment? 

Are we going to demand perfection before praise or acclaim is granted? Then, pray tell, who could possibly pass such a test … and by whom? Even the truly perfect one—Jesus—was crucified … and His own likeness being violated. 

If we focus only on others’ faults, then who can possibly be exemplars to emulate? Even all the saints had faults … but, keenly aware of that fact, their merit lay not in perfection, but in seeking to overcome those faults … at least the ones that they recognized. One longing for righteousness ever prays to God the sentiment of the psalm: “…who can discern his errors? Clear thou me from hidden faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19:12-14) 

Christians (ought) remember that we are not to judge another person—the condition of their soul, whether those of today or those of the past. Certainly we can—and are—called to help one another mold ourselves ever more into the image of Christ, but always with an eye to our own improvement most keenly of all. Ministers are wont to remind their flocks of Jesus’ own admonition: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone…” (John 8:7), and St. Paul: “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls” (Romans 14:4)—Christians believing that all persons being under the beneficent rule of the Heavenly Father.

So, let us be patient with past AND present, yet never flag in working to improve the future. As the poet wrote: 

As the ancients say wisely…
…look before you ere you leap;
For as you sow, ye are like to reap.
(Samuel Butler, Hudibras, Part II, Canto I)

… or, as we say more colloquially in our own day, “What goes around, comes around.” Thus we are wiser to be harsher with ourselves than we are with others—the persons whom we can improve now … this minute. So, as Jesus advises, let us take the log out of our own eye before we seek to take the speck from our brother’s eye … for only then do we see clearly. And rather than berate, let us gently seek to persuade—with example most of all—for a harsh word engenders resentment, but the kind word offered in charity and love is that which changes hearts.

Rev. Glenn Jones is the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and former pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Los Alamos.