Week 1 - Friday

Bible Passage

James 4:11-12

Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

Commentary

St. Moses the Strong on Exodus

The bottom line in all this is: do not judge one’s neighbors. When the hand of the Lord killed all the first born in the land of Egypt, there was not a house there in which no one had died." [Ex 12.29-30]. [Abba Poemen] said to him: "What does this mean?" [Abba Moses] said to him: "If we took the trouble to see our sins we would not see the sins of a neighbor. It is foolish for a person who has his own dead to leave it and go and weep for his neighbor's. To die with respect to your neighbor, means to worry about your sins, and to refrain from judging every other person saying “This one is good”, and “that one wicked”.