The short excerpt proclaimed today (Lk 6:36-38) has Jesus once again teaching His disciples privately.  It is a short, intense lesson in which Jesus insists that they show mercy,  forgiveness, and generosity as opposed to judging and condemning.  He closes with the message above.  For the disciples (and us), this is a preview of the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus will teach them in chapter eleven (vv. 2-4).  It follows His declaration of the Golden Rule just a few verses before (v. 31).  And of course it is perfectly in line with Jesus’ own example, most especially during His Passion.  If we generously measure out the sweet nectar of love and forgiveness, this is what we will receive from the Lord now and at the moment of death.  If we choose to ladle the poison of revenge and condemnation, then this, instead, is what we earn for ourselves.  Not that God exhibits these traits toward us, but rather it is we who show that this is the mode in which we are most comfortable and in which we prefer to exist.  Truly, it is the unrepentant sinner that condemns himself through his actions toward God and neighbor.  In a world which glories in vengeance, judges constantly, and condemns easily, may we be the counter-cultural voice that puts forward through our thoughts, our words, and, most importantly, our actions, the proper disposition (i.e., God’s disposition) towards others.