7 September 2018
Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Paul has finished caring. He tells the Corinthians flat-out that “it does not concern me in the least that I be judged by you or any human tribulation; I do not even pass judgment on myself”) (1 Cor. 4:3). Paul answers to one and one alone: God. Paul answers to God because all that he has is from God. He has been entrusted with gifts from God, and so will use them only as God wishes. No Corinthian, no Roman, not even Paul himself will decide how the gifts of God are to be used. God alone is the judge of such things.
As we say that only God can judge our actions, we do well to remember why only God can judge us. Ultimately, all that we have comes from God, and is given to us as a means of deepening our relationship with God. Even we ourselves are not capable of judging how to bring this about, but we entrust this judgment to the Lord. This is not always an easy thing, and requires that we step outside ourselves and our own desires to consider how God might want us to make use of things. In the end, though, we stand before God and God alone, and trust that God who knows all will praise His trustworthy stewards.