When people see me, what do they think about Catholics? Can they testify that Catholics are people of faith, prayer, and justice or do they think of common stereotypes? We have heard much about faith and prayer over the past month, so today let’s focus on Justice.
Justice is the most important of the cardinal virtues. It helps us make right moral decisions and to give to others what belongs to them. We may be inclined to think justice is mostly about civil law and order, but it is much broader. In the OT reading from Sirach, the author teaches that “God is a God of justice who knows no favorites.” He is “not unduly partial to the weak”, yet he hears the oppressed, the orphan, and the widow. These people are lowly due to their circumstances and are apt to rely on God more than on themselves or others. There are also those who make themselves lowly, as Sirach puts it “who serve God willingly.”
These are the people whom God hears, but are they prepared for the answer: which could be YES, NO, or WAIT. If we are unhappy with God’s reply, our problem could be one of two things: We are either demanding a limited, earthly justice from God, or we think of ourselves as the willing and lowly servant when in actuality, we are still far from it. When faced with such feelings, we should question ourselves our motives and what we truly desire: “How lowly am I? How willing am I to be a servant of God? Do I really need what I am asking for? Do I really trust God’s eternal perspective?”
Saint Paul, the great missionary apostle, is a good example of this perspective. In today’s letter to Saint Timothy he says that God is “the just Judge” and that he, Paul, is certain to receive “the crown of righteousness” in heaven. He knows this not because he is proud or conceited, but because he had made himself God’s lowly servant. As he told the Philippians, “I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him”.
More importantly, Paul knows that justice is based first and foremost on the fact that we were created for heaven and that being there is our primary goal in life. For Paul, the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ is an act of “primary justice” because it gives to all who hear what is their most basic need - the grace and knowledge of God leading to salvation. Everything else is secondary to that.
If our fundamental understanding of justice is earthly justice, then no fair accounting will ever be made to our satisfaction. Just look at how politcally tangled up we are as a society in striving for earthly fairness, equality, sameness which always fall short of the goal.
Even God does not implement an entirely earthly accounting of justice, for as Jesus says in Matthew’s gospel, “The poor you will always have with you.” He could have granted pure equality and sameness to all if the Father willed it, but this was not the primary goal. The revelation of God the Father, the Kingdom of Heaven, the knowledge of faith - these were his primary objectives, and they became Saint Paul’s as well. And even though Paul tells Timothy, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat,” he is still beheaded as a martyr. Does this mean a failure of justice on God’s part? Does God abandon his willing servants? Only look to the rest of Paul’s statement: “[The Lord] will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom.” Ultimately, God’s justice is fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ for “all who have longed for His appearance” for in heaven they receive all they could have longed for on earth.
In the gospel, Luke also takes up the theme of lowliness. Notice how the pharisee does good things (fasting, prayers, sacrifice), but he lacks perspective on his position before God - that he is really as dependent on the grace and mercy of God as the sinful tax collector. His attitude is actually a lack of justice toward God! We are not giving God what is due to him if we act as though He actually benefits from us or if we act as though his good gifts to us are unimportant or uninteresting.
Why does the tax collector go to the temple to seek mercy? because there is something different there - God meets his people in the temple. God meets us in this place - most perfectly in the Eucharist. This experience is meant to be different than the secular for a reason. Coming to church is a call to transformation, a turning of our hearts toward justice. Everything we do here matters. When we come here we symbolically wash off the negative influences of the world we experience outside. We bless ourselves with holy water, we confess our sin in the penitential act and we realize that we have brought some things into the mass that do not belong here. We cast them aside as Saint Paul did because our actions here should not be mechanical or empty repetitions and gestures. Here we come to do justice - primary justice - to give God the worship that belongs to him and to receive the grace he promised to the lowly and to help us be lowly.
Therefore, when people think of Catholics, the image ought to be more like the tax collector but also like Saint Paul whose primary objective was primary justice: revealing the good news by a humble life of service and meeting that primary need in others.
We have a few bus drivers in the parish who make it their primary objective to help others meet theirs. Bringing people to mass who cannot drive themselves. THIS is primary justice!
Children and adults who bless this mass by serving as greeters make it their primary objective to introduce people to this parish with a warm welcome and to provide assistance. If this mass is someone’s first experience of Christianity, what a difference a greeter can make. THIS is primary justice.
Choir members young and old bless this congregation with music to heighten our understanding of truth beauty and goodness during the liturgy. Sunday School Catechists, who outside of mass help parents communicate the same truth beauty and goodness to their children. THIS is primary justice.
I would be unjust if I did not tell you that we need more parishioners to stand up and go beyond the stereotypes and to perform acts of primary justice. I ask you to consider being bus drivers, greeters, choir members, and catechists for these are our areas of greatest need right now.
Today, we have washed off the injustice of the world. We have confessed our sins and turned toward God and rightly proclaimed his glory. Soon we will receive his Body and Blood in the Eucharistic Sacrifice and declare how right and just it is to give him thanks. As lowly and willing servants, let us once again resolve to take up the task of primary justice so that we can say with Saint Paul:
"The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen."
