We are called to love others and
have mercy upon them with our thoughts and words.
I am guilty of “rash judgment”
if I assume as true “without sufficient foundation, the moral fault of a
neighbor." To use a hypothetical
example, I assume that because my neighbor’s car is always in her driveway that
she is lazy and does not work. Later on
I find out that she carpools, and her friend drives her back and forth to work
each day, picking her up in the morning and dropping her off at night at hours
when I am at work and am not home. I was
too quick to judge; I made a decision in my mind about someone without enough
evidence.
I commit the sin
of detraction if I “without objectively valid reason, disclose
another's faults and failings to persons who did not know them.” The information is true but I should not tell
it to others. For example, I happen to
know that my friend Joe has a serious addiction to gambling that he is ashamed
of and does not want his wife to know about.
He revealed this to me in a conversation that he asked me to keep
confidential. I proceed to put it on my Facebook
page and Twitter account, making a joke about how “Joe has single handedly kept
the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in business.”
I commit calumny if
I, by remarks contrary to the truth, harm the reputation of others and give
occasion for false judgments concerning them (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2477). The
information is false and I spread it to others.
For example, I am furious at the basketball coach, because he rarely
plays my son. I spread a rumor that
twenty years ago the coach sexually abused a minor: one of his nieces. It is a completely fabricated
story/accusation.
Do I try to destroy others with my
thoughts and words? Or do I try to love
them?
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