Dorotheos of Gaza on Refusal to Judge Our Neighbor

St. Dorotheos of Gaza is the current spiritual insight "read". This morning before and in between and after Masses the nothing read his discourse on why one must not judge others.

Criticizing, judging, calumniating, despising others, Dorotheos advises, is what God dislikes most. It is a most horrible sin.

It is the nothing's most horrible sin. If there are no human enemies from the nothing's standpoint, there certainly is an enemy in this sin.

Just for example, here is a morning review. Numerous thoughts flash simply upon seeing people at Mass. Ah, there is the woman who dislikes the nothing to the point of scowling more often than not, upon viewing the nothing. Sometimes the sign of peace is given, more often, not. Sometimes a "hello" but not for some time--months? The nothing continues to be pleasant, yet the thoughts flash and take note. And, as St. Dorotheos advises--it is bad enough to have a thought, but soon enough the person reports the behavior of his "neighbor" to others.

So, the nothing has thought about the unpleasantness of this woman, perhaps it is her envy or resentment, and then has reported it to anyone who might read this. Or, it is so that in having the thought when the woman was scowly, the thought then is repeated and written out, even if no one reads this. The nothing is reading it! Thrice the sin!

After the early Mass a man mentioned in passing that he understood that the nothing's neighbors have their house for sale. Yes, they want to move. The shenanigans of the past winter have proven too much, perhaps, and it is hard for them to live next door to the nothing, after the detective had his talk with them, and no doubt seconded by the postal inspector. The nothing not only said that yes, they have their house for sale, but added that their price is not discounted for a quick sale, so it will take a miracle--and, to that added that when planting some seeds and onion sets near the property edge, the neighbors' sprinklers turned on, soaking the nothing. The sprinklers had already watered their lawn that morning. But the nothing remained planting, not flinching, not moving until the task was complete, telling itself it will dry off and offering the sprinkling as prayer for baptisms of souls.

Ah. Then came the next section of St. Dorotheos, and he repeated the sad condition that we tend to not only mention our neighbors and reveal their faults, but also comment further so as to share with others and denigrate the neighbor.

Ah again. And the nothing had literally spoken of "the neighbors." But there are other atrocious examples right on the surface of the brain, of recent memory. How about noon Mass yesterday when the dominant woman cut off an elderly woman from leading the Hail Holy Queen? Didn't the nothing become agitated by that rudeness--yes--and doesn't like to go to that particular Mass because this woman is like a jalepeno pepper commandeering little dollops of meringue? How's that for being critical and judgmental? And sharing it?

The nothing is so adept at observing that the criticism skips right alongside the eyes.

Dorotheos of Gaza, the 6th century monk and hermit, says judging others is a result of lacking true love.

"Nothing angers God so much or strips a man so bare or carries him so effectively to his ruin as calumniating, condemning, or despising his neighbor."

But wait--he goes on to clarify: condemning unjustly. Well, it is not easy to always know what is just or unjust. Don't get carried away and off the hook on that one, nothing! Heed Dorotheos.

"Nothing is more serious, nothing more difficult to deal with, as I say repeatedly, than judging and despising our neighbor. Why do we rather not judge ourselves and our own wickedness which we know so accurately and about which we have to render an account to God? Why do we usurp God's right to judge? Why should we demand a reckoning from his creature, his servant?....Why are we so ready to judge our neighbor? Why are we so concerned about the burden of others? We have plenty to be concerned about, each one has his own debt and his own sins. It is for God alone to judge, to justify, or to condemn."

St. Dorotheos continues with a story of two little girls taken into slavery, and a lovely religious woman purchased one to help with the household but also to rear in a Christian environment, sharing the faith with her and providing a loving home. The other little girl was purchased by a man who was going to train her into a dancer for his troupe, leading her into a life or repugnant ruin. Dorotheos asks: How will God judge these two little girls who were kidnapped and sold to two very different persons, forced to live two very different lives? There are many factors that God considers, to which God alone is privy.

"Those who want to be saved scrutinize not the shortcomings of their neighbor but always their own and they set about eliminating them. Such was the man who saw his brother doing wrong and groaned, 'Woe is me; him today--me tomorrow!' You see his caution? You see the preparedness of his mind? How he swiftly foresaw how to avoid judging his brother? When he said 'me tomorrow' he aroused his fear of sinning, and by this he increased his caution about avoiding those sins which he was likely to commit, and so he escaped judging his neighobr; and he did not stop at this, but put himself below his brother, saying, 'He has repented for his sin but I do not always repent. I am never first to ask for forgiveness and I am never completely converted.' Do you see the divine light in his soul? Not only was he able to escape making judgment but he humiliated himself as well. And we miserable fellows judge rashly, we hate indiscriminately and set people at nought whether we see something, hear something, or even only suspect something! And what is worse, we do not let it stop at harming ourselves, but we go and look for another brother and say, 'Here is what happened!' We harm him and put sin into his heart also....But we do the devil's work and are not one bit concerned about it."

Now the part about true love:

"If we have true love with sympathy and patient labor, we shall not go about scrutinizing our neighbor's shortcomings. As it is said, 'Love covers up a multitude of sins,' and again, 'Love thinks no evil...hides everything.' As I said, if we have true love, that very love should screen anything of this kind, as did the saints when they saw the shortcomings of men. Were they blind? Not at all! But they simply would not let their eyes dwell on sins. Who hated sin more than the saints? But they did not hate the sinners...nor condemn them, nor turn away from them, but they suffered with them, admonished them, comforted them, gave them remedies as sickly members, and did all they could to heal them...."

St. Dorotheos then reminds us that we are all members of one body, and we must do all we can to help the members that need healing. Would we cut off our hand if it was infected, or would we do all we could to gently restore it to health? And again, he points out that we must know what part we are and "fulfill your charge". If we are the eyes, then supervise and correct; if the mouth, instruct; if the ears, then listen and obey; if the hands, work; if the feet, run messages and perform outside ministries; if the head, then be in charge.

"Let each one give assistance to the body according to his ability and take care to help one another, whether it is a matter of teaching and putting the word of God into the heart of a brother, or of consoling him in time of trouble, or if giving a hand with work and helping him."

Now, this is very good, also, as a metaphor for how we are to be close to God. St. Dorotheos describes a compass making a circle, and the mid-point has lines going out to the circumference. If each line represents soul, and if we follow the line in to the center point which represents God, as we are trying to go to God, to be close to Him--the closer we come to God, the closer the lines come to one another! The more the lines recede from the mid-point, the farther apart they grow from each other.

"See! This is the very nature of love. The more we are turned away from and do not love God, the greater the distance that separates us from our neighbor. If we were to love God more, we should be closer to God, and through love of him we should be more united in love to our neighbor; and the more we are united to our neighbor the more we are united to God."

This windy, overcast day, cooler with rain off and on, provides the time to attend to inside work. If our duty is to correct another, then that must be done with love. But we must make sure of our duty, and before that to be sure that we see ourselves as God sees us. Do we clean off the counter for the love of God, and work at keeping it clean, or do we rush about stuffing items into closets and drawers when important others come to visit?

The nothing will attempt to work on this sin as from one on the edge of the circle, wanting to flow into the mid-point of God Himself. First, stop the verbal scrutinizing. Next, stop the mental scrutinizing. Finally, start the humble love which God provides to anyone who pays attention and heeds what is taught. "...God will always enlighten us and make us understand His will."

Dear Lord, please help the nothing to cease judging others, to remove the daily "planks" from its own eyes, to love others through loving You with pure love. Only You can help the nothing to grow in the pure love necessary; only You can authorize the graces to eradicate this terrible sin which upsets and hurts You more than any other, for it is the sin that hurts Your children--those who judge and scrutinize others, those who are scrutinized, and any to whom the sinner tells the criticisms. Help the nothing to scrutinize its own faults for the sole purpose of growing in purity so as to purely love You--and others as You have loved.