In today’s first reading (Rom 14:7-12), Saint Paul warns us against judging our brothers and sisters, since “we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.” It can be tempting to set ourselves up as the arbiters of truth or of what is right and proper, but in doing so, we fall into the same trap that the Pharisees did in today’s Gospel when they complained about how Jesus welcomed sinners and ate with them. In reality, not one of us is just before God, except by the gift of justification given us through Christ. When we judge another, however, we arrogate this gift of righteousness to ourselves.
Rather than judgment, let us seek to cultivate the attitude that Jesus describes in parable in today’s Gospel (Luke 15:1-10): that of rejoicing at the repentant sinner. In practice, this can look like persevering in hope and prayer rather than mentally consigning another to the flames, and it also requires self-examination to see whether what we think is a splinter in our brother’s eye is actually a beam in our own (cf. Matt 7:1-5). We pray for this attitude today, asking the Lord and his saints to intercede for us.