"We do," as Blessed Francis has said, "exactly the reverse of what the
Gospel bids us do. The Gospel commands us to judge ourselves severely
and exactly, while it forbids us to judge our brethren. If we did judge
ourselves, we should not be judged by God, because, forestalling His
judgment and confessing our faults, we should escape His condemnation. On
the other hand, who are we that we should judge our brethren, the servants
of another? To their own Master they rise or fall.
"Let us not judge before the time until the Lord shall reveal what is
hidden in darkness and pierce the wall of the temple to show what passes
therein. Man judges by appearances only. God alone sees the heart; and it
is by that which is within that true judgment is made of that which is
without.
"So rash are we in our judgments that we as often as not seize the
firebrand by the burning end; that is, we condemn ourselves while in the
very act of rebuking others. The reproach of the Gospel, _Physician, heal
thyself_,[1] we may take to ourselves. So also that other, _Why seest thou
the mote that is in thy brother's eye, and seest not the beam that is in
thy own eye_?[2] To notice which way we are going is the first condition
of our walking in the right way, according to the words of David, _I have
thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies_.[3] So, on
the other hand, we go astray if we do not pay attention to the path we are
following. Judge not others and you will not be judged; judge yourselves,
and God will have mercy on you."
[Footnote 1: St. Luke iv. 23]
[Footnote 2: St. Matt. vii. 3]
[Footnote 3: Psalm cxviii. 59]