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From: Romans 14:7-12

Seeing Things from the Other Person’s Point of View (Continuation)

[7] None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. [8] If we live, we
live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whe-
ther we die, we are the Lord’s. [9] For to this end Christ died and lived again, that
he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

[10] Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise
your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God; [11] for it is
written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue
shall give praise to God.” [12] So each of us shall give account of himself to God.

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Commentary:

4-12. These ideas and counsels addressed to the faithful at Rome provide the ba-
sis of the motto traditional in the Church, “Unity in essentials, freedom in doubtful
matters, and in all things charity” (cf. John XXIII, “Ad Petri Cathedram”; Vatican II,
“Unitatis Redintegratio”, 4). They mark the limits within which Christians should
exercise their freedom—at one extreme, what is laid down by lawful authority; at
the other, the need to practice charity towards all. The freedom of the “strong”
ends where the demands of charity begin: therefore, they should not scandalize
the weak; and the mistake the weak make is to regard as obligatory something
which is not, something a person can do or not as he pleases.

Love for freedom, properly understood, is never a danger to the faith: “The only
freedom that can assail the faith is a misinterpreted freedom, an aimless free-
dom, one without objective principles, one that is lawless and irresponsible. In
a word, license [...]. This is why it is inaccurate to speak of ‘freedom of con-
science’, thereby implying that it may be morally right for someone to reject God
[...]. I defend with all my strength ‘freedom of consciences’ (Leo XIII, Enc. “Liber-
tas Praestantissimum”), which means that no one can licitly prevent a man from
worshipping God” (St. J. Escriva, “Friends of God”, 32).

Freedom is “an exceptional sign of the image of God in man. For God willed that
man should ‘be left in the hand of his own counsel’ (Sir 15:14) so that he might of
his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection
by cleaving to him. Man’s dignity therefore requires him to act out of conscious
and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within, and not by
blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint” (Vatican II, “Gaudium
Et Spes”, 17). Therefore, the exercise of freedom consists in obeying a well
formed conscience and thereby, with the help of grace, attaining one’s last end
and the means necessary thereto. In fact, man will be judged on his obedience
or disobedience to the law written on his heart. “Conscience is man’s most se-
cret core, and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God” (”ibid.”, 16f). Its dic-
tates must always be obeyed, even if they be mistaken, and others should
always respect a person’s conscience, for only God can read and judge the hu-
man heart, and he forbids us to judge the inner blameworthiness of others (cf.
“ibid.”, 28).

“The just man, when he finds no way to excuse the action or the intention of
someone whom he otherwise knows to be honest, not only does not judge him
but rejects the very idea of doing so and leaves judgment to God. Our Lord on
the Cross, not being able fully to excuse the sin of his crucifiers, at least les-
sened their malice saying that they did not know what they were doing. When
we cannot excuse someone of sin, let us have pity on him, and try to find
grounds for excusing him, such as ignorance or weakness” (St Francis de
Sales, “Introduction to the Devout Life”, III, chap. 28).

7-9. We do not own ourselves, we are not our own masters. God, One and Three,
has created us, and Jesus Christ has freed us from sin by redeeming us with his
Blood. Therefore, he is our lord, and we his servants, committed to him body and
soul. Just as the slave is not his own master, but he himself and all he does re-
dounds to the benefit of his master, everything we are and everything we have
are geared, in the last analysis, not to our own use and benefit: we have to live
and die for the glory of God. He is lord of our life and of our death. Commenting on
these words St Gregory the Great says: “The saints, therefore, do not live and do
not die for themselves. They do not live for themselves, because in all that they do
they strive for spiritual gain: by praying, preaching and persevering in good works,
they seek the increase of the citizens of the heavenly fatherland. Nor do they die
for themselves because men see them glorifying God by their death, hastening to
reach him through death” (”In Ezechielem Homiliae”, II, 10).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.