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By Fr. Roy Cimagala *
SINCE we are made to judge because we are gifted with intelligence and will, we should realize that we can only judge properly when we do it with God always. We should be wary of our tendency to judge simply on our own, relying only on our own powers.
This truth about ourselves can be gleaned from that gospel episode when Christ castigated some leading Jews in his time, calling them hypocrites for they knew how to interpret the appearance of the earth and sky, yet did not know how to interpret the present time. (cfr. Lk 12,54-59)
We should have no doubt about our capacity to judge with God always. Our spiritual powers of intelligence and will, plus the grace of God, would enable us to go beyond what we can only sense and understand with our reason alone. With our spiritual powers and God’s grace, we can judge according to the faith, hope and charity that God shares with us.
We should just be more aware that everything we do, starting with our thoughts, judgments and reasonings, should be done with God. Only then would we know and judge things properly. We have to develop the appropriate discipline because we cannot deny that we have a strong tendency to simply judge and do things on our own.
With God, we can aim to become persons of sound judgment. It’s an ideal whose importance, relevance and urgency are increasing these days, given the complicating conditions we are getting into.
That’s actually an understatement. We know that to be a prudent man or a person of sound judgment is essential to us, considering our nature and dignity, plus the growing scope of the responsibilities we are acquiring nowadays.
Not only do we have to contend with the multiplying pressures and conditionings on our personal, family and professional life. Not only do we have to grapple with the confusing ramifications of our social, economic and political life, sorting them out as best that we could.
With escalating insistence, we need to learn how to integrate the material with the spiritual dimension of our life, the here and now with the eternal and supernatural destiny meant for us.
We have to know how to live by faith, hope and charity, the essence of our supernatural life with God, in the middle of our daily activities and concerns, and in the pursuit of our temporal affairs, be it in business, politics, education, culture, sports, etc.
This necessity demands of us to be nothing less than persons of sound judgment. We have to overcome our tendency to be guided mainly by instincts, emotions, moods, fashions, and some sophisticated philosophies and ideologies that, while offering many good elements, actually lead us away from our proper end.
Remember what Christ himself said: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul.” (Mt 16,26) And so, even as we do our best in resolving whatever challenges and problems we have in our temporal affairs, we should not forget the “only one thing necessary” in our life, relating and subordinating everything else to it.
In this regard, we have to help one another develop the proper attitude and skills to be persons of sound judgment. Obviously, the older and the more educated ones, the more mature and experienced persons and those with clear natural and supernatural gifts pertinent to this concern should lead the way.
* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
