Category: JUDGMENT

  • It may be useful to train oneself, initially, to the notion that
    sudden death and Judgment are imminent. This is because
    the principle of “love” might not be attractive to a frivolous person while, on the other hand, fear mixed with trust might be a viable starting point; experiencing love will follow.

    From Heart to Heart
    Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty

  • None of us is judged for what he does not know, any more than one is counted blessed because he is learned and possesses knowledge. It is rather in regard to these questions that each faces judgment: whether he has kept the faith and sincerely observed the commandments.

    —Athanasius, The Life of Antony

  • When you judge others, you judge God. Whether you’ve seen a thief, a loose woman, or a drunkard sprawled on the street, do not judge, because the Lord allowed their passions. Through these they should find the path to God—they should be humbled, see their own powerlessness, come to know the Lord, and repent. And are you pleasing to God? That means the Lord in His grace and mercy is restraining your passions. Know that if He lets them go you will fall into worse sins, and perhaps you won’t manage to climb out of those sins and you’ll perish. There for be humble and cautious. You saw that a person sinned, but did you see later how he repented? Then don’t judge! Like a thread passing through the eye of a needle, so man experiences the same sin that he judged in another. 

    —St. Gabriel the Fool for Christ of Samtavro

  • It seems that the sins that are not struggles for me are the very sins that I find most offensive in others. The commandments that are least difficult for me to understand and strive to keep are the very ones that cause the most offense in me when others do not seem to keep them.

    —Fr. Michael Gillis

  • I am aware of my tendency to divide people into good ones and evil ones, as if I could see into people’s hearts and know for sure why they act the way they do.

    —Henri Nouwen, Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life

  • The signs (marks) of one who is making progress are these: he censures no man, he praises no man, he blames no man, he accuses no man, he says nothing about himself as if he were somebody or knew something; when he is impeded at all or hindered, he blames himself: if a man praises him, he ridicules the praiser to himself: if a man censures him, he makes no defense: he goes about like weak persons, being careful not to move any of the things which are placed, before they are firmly fixed: he removes all desire from himself, and he transfers aversion to those things only of the things within our power which are contrary to nature: he employs a moderate movement toward everything: whether he is considered foolish or ignorant, he cares not: and in a word he watches himself as if he were an enemy and lying in ambush.

    —Epictetus, Enchiridion

  • Does a man bathe quickly (early)? do not say that he bathes badly, but that he bathes quickly. Does a man drink much wine? do not say that he does this badly, but say that he drinks much. For before you shall have determined the opinion, how do you know whether he is acting wrong? Thus it will not happen to you to comprehend some appearances which are capable of being comprehended, but to assent to others.

    —Epictetus, Enchiridion

  • When you have decided that a thing ought to be done and are doing it, never avoid being seen doing it, though the many shall form an unfavorable opinion about it. For if it is not right to do it, avoid doing the thing; but if it is right, why are you afraid of those who shall find fault wrongly?

    —Epictetus, Enchiridion

  • A fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to warn the public; they thought it was a joke and applauded. He repeated it; the acclaim was even greater. I think that’s just how the world will come to an end: to general applause from wits who believe it’s a joke.

    Either/Or: A Fragment of Life
    Søren Kierkegaard

  • From The Screwtape Letters—a fictional work written from a senior demon’s perspective, advising a junior tempter.

    The hatefulness of a hated person is ‘real’—in hatred you see men as they are, you are disillusioned; but the loveliness of a loved person is merely a subjective haze concealing a ‘real’ core of sexual appetite or economic association.