“Let us stand with the Truth putting on the Armor of Justice” – Ephesians 6:14.
The theme of Justice runs through all the readings for this Sunday. And it seems quite appropriate to reflect more deeply on the virtue of Justice. God’s love for us, to the point of giving us His Son, is a matter of fulfilling His own Justice. And it is obvious from scripture that the Kingdom of God is built on Justice. St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans points out that, “The Kingdom of God has to do with Justice, and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” – Romans 14:17. And those who “hunger and thirst for justice are blessed, for they will be satisfied” Matthew 5:6. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “Justice consists in the firm and constant will to give God and neighbor their due” CCC 1836. And perhaps more directly, from the lips of our Lord Himself, “render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God”-Matthew 22:21. The invitation to give to the poor, to support Church missions and apostolates, to visit the sick, to work for the common good, to preserve the beauty of nature, is all the exercise of justice in love. It belongs to justice to preserve, protect, and defend the dignity of every human person. “To do justice [in love] is more acceptable and pleasing to God than sacrifices” -Proverbs 21:3,15. Where there is Truth and Justice, there is always joy and peace. And where there is injustice, there is sadness and violence. If a speeding contest was arranged between a horse and a praying mantis, everyone would sadly sympathize with the praying mantis. But in the of case a Ferrari versus a ford, everyone would happily wait for the outcome.
And perhaps one more from Scripture. One of the ugliest and violent trials ever recorded in human history was the trial of Jesus. The Prophet Isaiah spoke of those bloody shameless and unjust judges beforehand and how brutal they executed their victim. He said that, “By a perversion of justice He was taken away…they made His grave with the wicked and His tomb with the rich, although He had done no violence, and there was no deceit in His mouth.” -Isaiah 53:8-9 [The New Oxford Annotated Bible NRSV]. After Judas Iscariot’s betrayal, they laid hold of Him. In the religious court of the high priest, Caiaphas, He is charged with blasphemy, calling Himself the Son of God. Then, they dragged him to the civil court of Pilate and there the charges suddenly change to “perverting the nation, forbidding people to give tribute to Caesar, and calling Himself King,” Luke:23. Pilate, the Chief justice, declares that he “finds no guilt in Him,” yet he declares a punishment before the proceedings are concluded. He scourges Him, and drags Him out before everyone, “Behold, I bring Him out to you, that you may know that I find no crime in him.” John 19:4. Behold the man! Where was justice? That is why no human institution has any power to change Divine law.
The devil does not like justice. He is always violating God’s justice. The level of indecency that is sweeping moral norms out of our society is demonic and unjust. The violence and the hatred that is done to the human body is purely unjust and demonic. The intentional destruction of life, the consumption of poisonous literature and bad images, the denial of truth and sacredness to children is unjust and demonic. The dismissal of any talking of Christ and the Cross in schools and workplaces is completely unjust. It belongs to justice to give glory and praise to God for all our achievements and even weaknesses. Psalm 100:3 reminds us that, “The Lord is God, He made us, we belong to Him, we are His people, the flock He shepherds.” Here is a cause to render to God what belongs to God. If He made us for His own, and we belong to Him, then we owe Him everything we are. And as we receive from God, we also give back. That, is justice at its best.
Human reason must be informed and directed by Divine justice. Without Divine law, human justice fails terribly. When we try to rationalize sin in order to justify it, we not only injure ourselves, also we violate God’s justice. What is wrong in the eyes of God, is always and everywhere wrong. The devil is there, only to cast doubts on God’s justice. Like in the book of Genesis, the devil incites Eve, “Did God really say, ‘you shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Gen. 3:1. Really? And when we entertain those doubts and persuasions, we fall victims. But if we look him in the eye and say, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not like God…” Matthew 16:23, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrite?” Matthew 22:15-21. When we fight the devil with the Truth, when we stand strong in the faith, the devil gets scared and runs away. The Sacrament of Confession is one way to slap the devil in the face. But, if we don’t expose him, he gets stronger and more influential. Spiritual direction is another way to expose the devil. In the desert the devil came to our Lord with three temptations, gluttony, pride, and avarice. In all three instances, our Lord remained true to God’s will. As disciples we are no exception to these same temptations. But let us remain strong in our Faith, let us “think of whatever is true, whatever is just and pure, whatever is gracious and worthy of God’s praise, let us keep doing what we have learned and received, what we have seen and heard from our Faith, and the God of Peace will always be with us.” Phil. 4:8-9.
Amen
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