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There is one church in Metro Manila that has a Mass at noon time. All the parishioners know each other by face, if not by name. That is why, everyone noticed this old woman who would come during that part of the Mass when the Lamb of God is being sung: Afterwards she would fall in line for Holy Communion, receive the Sacred Host, and then immediately leave the church without finishing the entire Mass.
The regular Mass attendants became bothered by the woman’s behavior. One day, a man who was a regular Mass-goer, decided to tail the old woman. He followed her to what appeared to be her home. The man knocked at her door. When the old woman opened the door, the man saw about 200 children being fed by the old woman. The man asked what she was doing.
The woman replied, “I wake up very early in the morning to do my marketing for all the poor people around my house. I am a doctor. I cook the whole morning to feed these children. The only time I can spare is the 10 minutes I go to the church to receive Communion which is my strength. After this, I attend to them again. I give food and medicine and bathe them. Before I am over, it is already late at night and there is no more Mass.”
The man went back to the church terribly embarrassed. Ask yourself: If you saw another woman entering the church only at the moment when the “Agnus Dei” is being sung or recited, falling in line for Communion and leaving without any explanation, what thoughts would cross your mind?
The answer to the question will show you what kind of person you are.
Not one of us can read the heart of another. It is only God. And He refuses to judge. God simply decides to forgive and to understand.
Ask yourself. Are we not judging each other too harshly? Are We not playing god on each other?
Could it be true that the sin of the Pharisees is still with us because we judge other people from what we see.
Unfortunately, the most important things in life are not those that we can see with our human eyes. The most important things are those that cannot be seen, those that can only be touched by the human heart.
Ask yourself: What would you have done if you saw that same lady?
When you know the answer, ask yourself again: “Am I really like this?”
JUDGE NOT
Jn. 7:19-24
Only Jesus, Always Jesus
