Judging?

[Trevelyan]

What constitutes judging others?

X knows as a fact that Mr Y has Z mindset (and Z mindset is as a matter of fact, wrong in some ways)

Then…
X is at Mass and THINKS that Mr Y is judging HIM for doing, lets say, B.

Has X wrongly judged Mr Y by thinking that Mr Y is judging him (when Mr Y may in fact not be judging him?)

I hope I make myself obscure.

 

[Pug]

Well, I know it is not the wee hours in Australia, so this question must have made sense over there!

If in your mind you are convicting MrY of sinfully attributing evil to yourself, then you are out of line.

I should point out that thoughts about what some neighbor of ours may or may not be thinking during mass are a distraction, and should be gently set aside and one ought to try to refocus on the mass. But you already are trying to do that, I’d guess! Having some thought and trying to ignore it is not sinful. Just try to set the distraction aside. (Speaks the one who used to count the EMHC to see if the deacon was going to be left standing there again.)

That’s all I can muster at this hour.

by ignore it I mean also not consent to it if that applies

 

[AlanFromWichita]

Trevelyan:

What constitutes judging others?

X knows as a fact that Mr Y has Z mindset (and Z mindset is as a matter of fact, wrong in some ways)

Then…
X is at Mass and THINKS that Mr Y is judging HIM for doing, lets say, B.

Has X wrongly judged Mr Y by thinking that Mr Y is judging him (when Mr Y may in fact not be judging him?)

No.

By thinking that Mr. Y might be judging him, X has not judged.

By believing that Mr. Y definitely is judging him, X has assumed something that may be wrong but has not necessarily sinned thereby. Therefore X may have “wrongly judged” in that maybe Y really didn’t judge, but as long as X doesn’t judge Y as inferior to himself or previous notions, X should still be OK.

By thinking less of Y for having done so or becoming angry over it, X has then judged and sinned against Y or at least against himself, if Y never finds out about it.

Does this make sense? I’m not sure now what we mean by “wrongly judged.” I can interpret “wrongly judged” as in “oops I was mistaken and Y wasn’t really judging” or “wrong” as in “Y is a wrongdoer.” I think that is the heart of whether such judgment is sinful. “Judgment” per se, as in noticing things as possibly right or wrong, I don’t think is what Christ meant by “do not judge.” After all, He knew very well whether somebody was guilty or not, so I don’t believe that simply being clever enough to determine whether another has sinned is what Christ was talking about. Of course, one can never be too sure unless one can read hearts like Christ, so perhaps there is a closer connection than I’ve just described.

I hope I make myself obscure.

LOL, I’d say your hopes came to fruition!

Alan

 

[AlanFromWichita]

Pug:

I should point out that thoughts about what some neighbor of ours may or may not be thinking during mass are a distraction, and should be gently set aside and one ought to try to refocus on the mass. But you already are trying to do that, I’d guess! Having some thought and trying to ignore it is not sinful. Just try to set the distraction aside. (Speaks the one who used to count the EMHC to see if the deacon was going to be left standing there again.)

That’s a good point. While you might not be guilty of the sin of judgment, you might be guilty of failing to stay focused on the Mass. I don’t know if that’s sinful behavior in itself, but I figure it probably is.

Alan

 

[prophetdaniel]

Has anyone ever been at Mass when the priest sermoned on this exact topic? If so, what did he say? What kind of approach did he take?