Do not judge anyone, because you do not know his or her story. Do not condemn anyone, because you do not understand his or her circumstances. Do not write anyone off, for you know little or nothing about the path of his or her destiny. Only God has the right to judge. He alone has the authority to condemn and to commit to hell. For omniscience and perfection belong to him alone. Yet He does not condemn easily nor commit to hell flimsily. Those we have judged, condemned, and handed over to hell may eventually become precious instruments in the hands of God. One such personality is Mary Magdalene.
Mary Magdalene
Although Mary Magdalene has been recognized as the patroness of converts, penitent sinners and reformed prostitutes and popular tradition has wanted for centuries to attribute to her the profession of prostitution, there is no biblical evidence to believe that she was a woman of easy virtue. Modern exegesis has also not connected her with promiscuity. However, one thing certain about her is that she was possessed by seven demons. Naturally, her life as a woman possessed by seven demons must have been pitiable. She must have been battered and bruised, traumatized, and robbed of her dignity. The demons could have possibly led her into lewd and godless life. People could have judged and condemned her the way they did the woman that anointed the feet of Jesus, or the one caught in adultery.
However, Jesus does not call the sanctified. He sanctifies the called. He is like a doctor, who has no business with the healthy but with the sick. He came to clean and restore sinners and to heal the wounded. He picks up and cleanses those already condemned and dumped in hell by men and uses them for his great mission of recreation. Thus, He freed Mary Magdalene of the demons tormenting her life, purified her and made her His close friend. He finally gave her the privilege to be the first person to see Him after His resurrection and made her the first herald of the Good News of the resurrection.
God’s Ways
Do not judge anyone. Do not condemn, for God’s ways are not our ways. His ways are too deep for the human mind to unravel. Not even angels can fathom the depth of His thoughts. He operates in deeply mysterious ways. When those who witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus thought that the two thieves, who were crucified with him, had ended up in hell, just at the very last minute of damnation (according to human calculations), one of them was transformed into a child of heaven. Do not write anyone off. For out of that, which is believed to be outrageous, God can create incredible pieces of divine workmanship. He knows how to reconcile contradictions.
The Church expresses this awesome attribute of God in the Eucharistic prayer of the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross: “You decreed that man should be saved through the wood of the cross. The tree of man’s defeat became his tree of victory, where life was lost, there life has been restored.” God can use the devil’s own signature move to destroy his evil works, while at the same time restoring what has been lost. Accordingly, He can transform the worst of sinners into the loftiest of saints. So, do not condemn anyone. Do not condemn yourself either. Do not give up on yourself, no matter the situation. For God has not given up on you.
