I have a confession to make: I am a judgmental driver.
Believe me, I try not to be, but it’s really hard not to be when you regularly travel routes 55, 42, 295 and 676. I’ll sneer at the person who doesn’t use their turn signals. I’ll jeer at the person in front of me in bumper-to-bumper traffic who leaves a huge gap in front of them. I’ll revile the person going the speed limit in the passing lane and not moving over.
And comments – I’ll make snarky comments about not just how they are driving, but about their bumper stickers, what’s hanging on their rearview mirror, or what they’re eating while they are driving, and those comments are often peppered with what Spongebob Squarepants referred to as “sentence enhancers.”
Do you remember those two old guys in the balcony on the Muppet Show who were constantly heckling the performers? Their names are Statler and Waldorf, and they consistently jeered the entirety of the cast and their performances from their balcony seats. Sometimes, I feel like I sound just like those two, sitting up high above others and making rash judgements and snide remarks.
When I catch myself doing this, I remind myself that I need to do better. It is something I am working on, and I think I’m making progress, too, because I don’t do it at Wawa anymore … well, not as much.
Even though no one actually hears what I am saying – except for my wife from time to time – I know it is not a merciful way to behave.
Pope Francis said that “to love God and neighbor is not something abstract, but profoundly concrete: It means seeing in every person and face of the Lord to be served.” Saint Teresa of Calcutta said, “I see Jesus in every human being.”
Does that mean that when I sneer, jeer, and revile other drivers on the road, I am not only ridiculing other drivers, but I am also ridiculing Jesus?
In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus tells us, “A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Further, Saint James tells us that “with [the tongue] we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. This need not be so, my brothers.”
In an article, “The Litmus Test of the Tongue,” the author says that we often say things we shouldn’t out of habit and in the heat of the moment, and that our words reflect what we feed off of the most. What feeds our hearts more, the Holy Word of God and prayer, or streaming shows and scrolling social media?
This test of the tongue offers some self-reflective questions: Do our words glorify God or curse people made in His image? Are we giving blessings out of one side of our mouths while cursing out of the other? Does our speech build up our neighbor or tear them down regardless of whether they are there to hear us or not?
When we truthfully examine our own speech, we can accurately gauge what makes up the fullness of our heart.
Pope Pius XI said that Jesus must reign in our minds, must reign in our wills, must reign in our hearts, and must reign in our bodies. We must acknowledge the reign of Christ not just at Mass on Sunday mornings, but in all aspects of our lives – in our homes, in our workplaces, and even on our highways.
Despite constantly complaining about the show and how terrible the acts are, the old curmudgeons on the Muppet Show, Statler and Waldorf, always return the following week and occupy their usual pair of seats in the balcony.
Maybe we can see that as a sign of hope, as yet another opportunity to see in others the face of Jesus and speak of them, whether or not they can hear us, with dignity and mercy.
Deacon Dean Johnson serves at Church of the Holy Family, Sewell.
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