By Fr. Scott Archer
2-22-19
“For
the measure with which you measure will in return be measured back to you.” The
last words of Our Lord in this gospel passage were the basis for the title of
Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, a
play which takes place in Vienna. The Duke, Vincentio, informs Angelo that he
is leaving and putting him in charge of the city. At first Angelo protests, but
once alone he revives old laws and ruthlessly enforces draconian punishments to
clean up the city.
Meanwhile, the Duke has not in fact left the
city but has disguised himself as a friar in order to see how Angelo rules.
Angelo condemns a young man named Claudio to death for immorality with Juliet, his
fiancé. Claudio’s sister, Isabella, a novice in a convent of Poor Clare nuns,
obtains an audience with Angelo and pleads for mercy regarding her brother. He
agrees to spare Claudio’s life if Isabella will sacrifice her virginity. She
refuses. Suffice it to say that the hypocrite, Angelo, rules according to the
law; however, it is a rule without mercy, cruel, and unforgiving. The Duke
reveals himself in the end, and justice is restored.
Our
Lord tells us “Stop judging and you will not be judged.” He does not mean that
we cannot judge immorality or behaviors which are detrimental to a Christian
society. We have to do this, otherwise evil will triumph and the good will
suffer greatly at the hands of the wicked. Christ wishes us to judge right from
wrong but also be merciful, unlike the wicked Angelo in Measure for Measure. If we are harsh and cruel in our judgment,
this is the same measure that will be measured back to us by God.
St.
John Chrysostom writes, “You will
not easily find any one, whether a father of a family or an inhabitant of the
cloister, free from this error. But these are the wiles of the tempter. For he
who severely sifts the fault of others, will never obtain acquittal for his
own. Hence it follows And you shall not
be judged. For as the merciful and meek man dispels the rage of sinners, so
the harsh and cruel adds to his own crimes.”
Our
Lord teaches us true mercy, just as Shakespeare tried to do the same with Measure for Measure. Clare Asquith, in
her scholarly book Shadowplay,
suggests Shakespeare wrote the play because King James I had delegated his
authority to deputies, led by Lord Cecil, who revived old laws to punish
English Catholics and refused to listen to pleas of mercy. She posits that
Angelo in the play represents hypocritical and worldly Puritans, and it is a
plea to King James not to hand over Catholics to the enemies of the Church but
to deal with them himself. Angelo’s revived laws coincide with the dates of the
anti-Catholic statutes of Parliament.
Christ
states, “To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate
you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” This means we
must love them as Christ commands us. We must pray for them, especially for
their conversion. He does not mean our enemies are our friends, that those who
persecute us should be sought out for companionship, nor does He mean crimes
can go unpunished. He means we must be merciful and pray for them. The greatest
virtue we can show to all, even our enemies, is love!
St.
Ambrose writes, “Having proceeded in
the enumeration of many heavenly actions, He not unwisely comes to this place
last, that He might teach the people confirmed by the divine miracles to march
onward in the footsteps of virtue beyond the path of the law. Lastly, among the
three greatest, (hope, faith, and charity,) the greatest is charity, which is
commanded in these words, Love your
enemies.”
