Take off your robes....

Senator Ted Kennedy died a couple of years ago.  He was a professed Catholic; but many of his political views were contrary to Church teaching.  He lived a life most of us cannot imagine and much of it seemed to be made public knowledge, although the truth of these things reported were likely tainted in ways we’ll never know.

I bring up Ted Kennedy so I can remind each of us that we all have something in common with him.  We are all sinners and we are all in need of God’s great mercy.  Our sins may differ, but a fact is a fact; sin takes us away from Jesus Christ. 

A lot of people put on their “judgment robes” after Ted died; especially when he was afforded a Catholic funeral Mass.  Many thought he didn’t deserve a funeral Mass.  He didn’t follow Church teaching and was a sinner, why should the Church afford him a Mass?

We don’t know what happened spiritually to Ted Kennedy at the end of his life.  It is said he attended daily Mass to pray for his daughter when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  I am sure our Father in heaven used that time with Ted to His greatest advantage.  I pray he was able to make a good confession and receive the anointing of the sick and maybe even the apostolic pardon before he died.

We are, after all, to desire what God desires and He desires us all to be in heaven with Him for eternity.  We are not supposed to put on our black robes and judge people, that’s God’s place and it’s a good thing, because He is all merciful and all loving – traits we completely lack.

Don’t be jealous because God is generous.  That’s what we read in Matthew 20:1-16.  The landowner goes to town throughout the day and brings in workers to the field and at the end of the day, even those who came at the end and worked only an hour, received the same pay as those who had labored all day. 

Some of us will “labor” all our lives to live the gospel and follow God.  Others will “labor” mere moments at the end of their lives.  The reward is the same for all of us.  In heaven they rejoice when a sinner repents and we should do the same on earth.

Seen and Unseen

Comedian Bill Engvall coined the phrase, “Here’s your sign.”  In the way only a comedian can, he tells us people should wear “signs” so everyone else will know who they are (he’s referring to people who tend to do or say things that aren’t exactly intelligent – such as touching a hot iron and saying, “Ouch, that’s hot!” leaving us inwardly thinking, “no kidding Einstein”!)

In a sense, we do wear signs, they just aren’t evident to everyone.  On the front, we wear a “sign” which we present to everyone only what we want them to see.  We are nice, loving, caring, hardworking, faithful, successful, rich or whatever it is we ourselves want others to see in us.

We wear another “sign” on the back.  This sign lists our faults.  We don’t want anyone to know what this sign says and we really believe no one has any idea what’s on it either.  We don’t want anyone to know we are insecure, afraid, have an anger problem, in debt up to our noses, in a suffering marriage, estranged from our children, self-righteous, stuck-up or whatever it is we don’t want others to know about us, including sometimes, ourselves.

We are not supposed to, but we judge people based on what we can see.  We tend to forget that there is a whole other side to the story that we cannot see.  We get upset because Father didn’t stop and talk to us after Mass because he was in a rush to get out of church and on with his day, but we didn’t know the hospital just called and he was needed at a dying person’s bedside.

Our in-laws call and invite themselves for a week long visit and we feel put out because it doesn’t fit into our schedule and then we find out at the end of the visit that dad has been diagnosed with colon cancer and nothing can be done.  He’s dying and wanted to see us one last time.

We get angry when a young woman goes in to have an abortion because we know for a fact it’s wrong.  We forget that she has probably been taught that it’s perfectly okay to do because she has a “choice” and that she needs love and forgiveness instead of anger and resentment from us.

On and on and on we judge each other, instead of loving each other, because of what we think we see.  Only God can see all things and He loves us infinitely more than we will ever love one another.

Every time we start to judge someone, we must stop and pray for that person instead (this will take practice).  If that person truly has the defect we are making judgments about, then they need our prayers.  I urge you to pray for yourself though, asking God to keep you from falling into that defect as well (if you haven’t already!).