The Righteous Man Surprised by the Devil
Minding the business of others. - 2 Thessalonians 3
That verse is taken from tomorrow's second reading at Mass.
In much speaking there is no escape from sin.
The ninth degree of humilityElsewhere in Scripture the Holy Spirit says, "I will correct you by drawing your sins up before your eyes." When I expose the sins of others, shouldn't my own be exposed as well? How can I point out the sins of others when I have sinned so grievously myself?
is that a monk restrain his tongue and keep silence,
not speaking until he is questioned.
For the Scripture shows
that "in much speaking there is no escape from sin" (Prov. 10:19)
and that "the talkative man is not stable on the earth" (Ps. 139[140]:12[11]). - Rule of St. Benedict
Who? ... Am I? ... To judge?
Our Lord told St. Margaret of Cortona:
My daughter, I see more Pharisees among Christians than there were around Pilate.
I just read this less than an hour ago in a book someone gave to my wife this week:
ReplyDelete“It’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” :)
It is human nature (unfortunately) and to our chagrin that we have the propensity to see the splinter in the eyes of our neighbor and to virtually over look the plank in our own eyes. I try very hard (with little success) to be indifferent to the sins and faults of others around me. I was always told as a farm boy that each of us has more than enough sh*t to clean up in our own barnyard that there is no room to worry about others and their mess.
ReplyDeleteI like the 'Busy body' title btw. My mother had/has incredible difficulty suffering busybodies. When someone would point out the mistakes or faults of others to her she would say, "clean up your own backyard and stop worrying about everyone else."
ReplyDeletebest way to clean up… confession. God’s love is greater than sin said Pope Francis recently. Our strength is only by God’s grace… We are pretty useless when we try to go it alone. :)
ReplyDeleteSin is the only thing we can truly say is of our own making and so we are free to do with it as we choose. Keep it or dump it. Sin behaves in a way like grace does. It keeps on coming and we keep taking it in.
Hah, I'm a "talkative man" ...
ReplyDelete