It is very common for people to judge others. It is not only bad to judge others, but it is even worse to judge their intentions. Yet we do it all the time. It is also very common to suspect others, especially persons that we do not trust or like. We conveniently forget the Golden Rule given by Christ: “Do to others what you like others to do to you (Mt.7, 12)”. Christ declared that the entire law and the prophets are contained in this rule. If we follow this rule we do not need any other as all other rules, regulations, and guidelines for our life follow from this one supreme rule. It is also important to mention that this rule was stated in another way by Confucius in his Analects: “Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you”. We want others to think well of us. If things can be interpreted in a positive or negative light, we want others to look at us favorably giving us the benefit of the doubt. Not only are we not willing to give others the benefit of the doubt, we are not even willing to concede that other persons are capable of changing for the better as we are. How often have I heard: “Oh, he/she is never going to change”!

            Recently I was visiting my brother in our native place. When he came home from his daily attendance at Mass, I was reading the ‘Malayala Manorama’ of January 7, 2010. I was curious about the full page Marketing Feature on Believers’ Church and Sri K. P. Yohannan ordaining six bishops. I showed it to my brother. And his response in Malayalam was something to this effect: This is also a sign of the end of the world as mentioned in the Bible. He said Sri Yohannan made himself an Archbishop sometime back, and now he is creating other bishops. I am re-acquainting myself with Kerala after being away for over 52 years. So I did not know much about Sri Yohannan. I told my brother that the end of the world is not near. I have also heard some fundamentalist Christians talking about the coming end of the world, the rapture, and the second of coming of Christ because things do not go their way.

            Actually the Church that was severely persecuted became the most powerful organization after Emperor Constantine got converted to Christianity in the 3rd century. I told him that Sri Yohannan appears to have a wealthy and powerful organization to do what he is doing. Moreover, he appears to follow the Roman power structure that the Catholic Church created. In both organizations the real test is about the capacity to love, to preach the good news, to serve the needy and the poor, to free those who are oppressed, and to do God’s will. Mahatma Gandhi became the most powerful man in India because his power came from service, humility, and search for truth. Christ talked about his coming to this world to minister and not to be ministered unto. This world is a better world than it ever has been. There is no slavery, no colonialism, no racism, no casteism, no discrimination of any kind - at least, legally if not in practice. Today’s homework is: “How do I like to be treated by others?” I will have the answer as to how to treat others.