The Blame Game

The place is not hard to find. It’s just off one of our interstate highways. You can’t miss it. Quite deserted. A ramshackle barely stands in the heat. And still people go there; and people don’t go there. Some go there for an extended stay, others make a visit. On a wooden post, a relic of the past, the placename is still clear – Blame Town. Here is an outpost to notice and know to stay away from.

It is here we find faults in everyone whom we meet and judge accordingly.

In the cultural psyche, the fall from Eden has left its mark of pride upon us, prompting us to seek self-fulfillment. Throughout history, bigotry, paranoia, and even religious extremism have fouled the waters of our baptismal commitment.

We are not to judge does not preclude judging moral wrongs, but rather taking the negatives and turning them into positives. Father Eymard counsels to sanctify the present. What’s the alternative?

To grumble? Complain? Where is peace of mind and soul? Certainly not in a dilapidated frame of judging. Being present for someone who isn’t seeing straight is a way to break down the barrier created by judging others.

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. (1 Corinthians 13:4-6)

Prayer:

Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but [also] everyone for those of others. (Philippians 2:3-4)