Big Joy In Seeing Others Sin.

As we all continue advancing in search of holiness, I have identified some forms of subtle wickedness that lies hidden in most peoples hearts, including myself. Am talking about the zeal with which we highlight the weaknesses of other people, or societies, and the inability to see our own. 

When I was growing up, my siblings and I would occasionally visit the local town. We would find various groups of people chatting for long periods. Most of them would be discussing newspaper articles. One of the discussion was by a tea brewer. He served his tea, that was sometimes unpleasant in taste, it was not properly brewed. He was however very busy tearing down the president's performance. Explaining how the president should run the country. And how he could not understand why the leaders didn't seem to know what they were doing. He sounded like he could run a country. But never mind about improving the service of his tea shop.

Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, and please the widow's cause,”.

The word of God is speaking to us. Most of the times when we attend retreats the first time, we are going there to pray for another person, because they are causing so much pain. When we get there, we realise that Jesus wants us to work on ourselves first, because we are so terrible, and so many people are suffering because of us.

In our country,  many of us are very keen on criticizing the leaders, yet, we practice the same ills in our personal lives, only that it is at a smaller scale. When a politician is our relative, it is seen as a blessing. We do not reject the huge allowances they bring home, nor the huge perks. 

St. John of the Cross says "In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.”

St James 4:12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbour.

God alone knows the other person's heart and intentions. We are not to keep quiet on injustice to the society,  but we are to apply the same shrewdness with which we analyse others actions, to our own actions and intentions. 

When we focus more on our unworthiness, the other people look holier. In the memoirs of St. Faustina,  she expressed the mercy of Jesus and how He expected us to judge others mercifully. She was once allocated the rudest worker to work with, and the girl ended up changing because of the way St. Faustina treated her, with kindness and without criticising. 

So, when we criticise all the ills in the world today, nepotism,  tribalism,  racism, how are we practising that? Racism is nepotism for the person in the village, where there are only one tribe and race, and tribalism if exposed to other tribes only. It is any form of discrimination in choosing, that is not based on merit. It is when we laugh at and judge others because they are different and we do not understand them. It is when we generalize kids from a certain family or people of a certain community. 

Am I pressing my knee on someone's neck? Is there someone crying "I can't breath" because I am always critical and negative. Let's remember the famous saying: "When you point your finger at someone, three fingers are pointing back at you". If instead of pointing out other people'flaws, we occupy ourselves by correcting our own mistakes, we will achieve the highest level of spiritual and emotional maturity.