During his homily today at Santa Marta, Pope Francis cautioned the faithful to resist the temptation to judge others because human judgment is always flawed and lacks mercy.

Vatican Radio is reporting on the Pope’s sermon, given this morning at Mass in his residence, in which he reminded the congregation that judgment belongs to God alone.

“ . . . [A]ll of us want the Lord to look upon us with kindness on Judgment Day and that He will forget the many bad things we have done in life,” he said. Therefore, if "you judge others constantly . . . with the same measure you shall be judged."

Instead of rushing to judgment, he advised, look in the mirror first.

“Look in the mirror, but not to put on makeup to hide the wrinkles. No, no, no, that's not the advice! Look in the mirror to look at yourself as you are. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye and do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or, how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' while the log is still in your eye? And how does the Lord look at us then, when we do this? One word: 'hypocrite.’ First take the log out of your eye, and then you shall see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye'.”

Only God can judge, he continued. Our job is “to love, to understand, to pray for others when we see things that are not good.”

Rather than judging, talk kindly to others so that they can learn from their mistakes, he suggested. “But never judge. Never. And this is hypocrisy, if we judge."

When we judge others, "we put ourselves in the place of God, but our judgment is poor judgment," he said. It can never "be true judgment."

But can’t our judgment be like the Lord’s?

No, the pope said, and not just because God is Almighty and we are not.

“Because our judgment is lacking mercy. And when God judges, He judges with mercy."

He went on to advise: "Let us think today about what the Lord says to us: Do not judge, lest you be judged; the measure… by which we judge will be the same that will be used for us; and, third, let us look in the mirror before judging. 'But this fellow does this ... that fellow does that...' 'But, wait a minute ...' I look in the mirror and then think. On the contrary, I'll be a hypocrite if I put myself in the place of God and, also, my judgement is poor judgment.”

In conclusion, Francis prayed: “May the Lord make us understand these things."

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