Of the many sins we find ourselves falling into easily, rash judgment must be near the top of the list, when we judge the thoughts and actions of another. Our Lord warned, “Judge not, that you may not be judged” (Matthew 7:1). Now this is not to forbid all judgment. Our Lord is telling us not to judge our neighbour without good cause. It’s very common today to interpret these words of Our Lord to mean, “You have no right to say anything is wrong” or “All moral evaluation is forbidden” but this is not what Our Lord is saying. Elsewhere He says, “Beware of false prophets” (Matthew 7:15) and “Judge with right judgment” (John 7:24). We have to judge all the time between truth and falsehood, good and evil, virtue and vice. And this is particularly the case where our soul is concerned, or the souls of those entrusted to our care. So what Our Lord is forbidding is judgment that is rash, and a judgment is rash when it is formed without any real evidence, or when we attribute bad motives to people for which we have no grounds for doing so, reasons for which we would be extremely annoyed if people used the same criteria to judge us. St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) defined rash judgment as “the habit of forming an evil opinion of another without sufficient reason.” We cannot know what is in a person’s heart. That is known by God alone.

For example, you might see someone leave Mass early, and without knowing the reason, you conclude they are being irreverent, whereas they might be rushing home to look after someone who is sick. Or you see the police talking to a neighbour, and you immediately think they must have committed a crime, whereas they may have simply witnessed an accident. And these things are not just being mistaken. It’s choosing to assume the worst about a person when you don’t know the facts. St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) wisely tells us, “If you cannot excuse the act, excuse the intention. If you cannot excuse the intention, excuse the circumstances. And if you cannot excuse anything, be content to say, ‘Perhaps I do not understand the whole story.’” We often form these opinions thoughtlessly, but if they are the result of malice, pride, envy or hatred, the sin is more grave, because they presuppose the injuring of our neighbour, which is obviously contrary to the law of charity.

What are the remedies? Firstly, slow down coming to a conclusion. Do I know this for certain or am I giving in to speculation? Then attribute good motives to people rather than condemning them. And then examine your own heart. Often, the faults we suspect in others are the same things we suffer from ourselves!

So the standard is clear. We must always judge actions and teachings according to the truth, but we cannot judge what is in another person’s heart. We must call sin “sin”, but we should never pronounce someone guilty unless the evidence is beyond doubt. Speak the truth clearly, but at the same time be merciful and slow to condemn. Think of Our Lord hanging on the Cross. Far from condemning His enemies who were jeering at Him, He prayed for and forgave them, and even made excuses for them to His Heavenly Father: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:24).

Fr Paul Gillham, IC