Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Yr C 2025

Title

From Justice to Love

Outline

The best the world can achieve is justice

At its best the world can give to each their due; it can sometimes restrain evil without inflicting a worse evil; it can sometimes give a fair recompense for evil. Once in a while it can give restorative justice, but often this is impossible - how do you “restore” the innocence of a person who has been sexually abused? And even in straining evil there are limits: the Catechism of the Catholic Church questions whether we can fight a just war given modern weapons.

In fact, the world often does not want justice, but rather vengeance in which the “enemy” is “destroyed” verbally in argument or physically by police or personal action or some other way. That seems to have become the rule in political life today. But at its best the world seeks justice.

Christians are to seek love

Even in Samuel we see virtuous man, David, unwilling to take justice into his own hand even when the opportunity seemed a divine gift. Instead he shows loyalty to a man who had been disloyal to him, leaves justice to God the one judge, and uses the opportunity to help his enemy repent of his hostility.

But, as Paul says, the Christian is no longer in the image of the first Adam, earthly, but in that of the second Adam, life giving, loving. Or at least he or she is in the process of transition.

We see this “second Adam life” in our Gospel. It is not just do justice to your enemies, but “love your enemies” or “seek their good.” “Bless those who curse you” and “pray for those who mistreat you.” This and the rest of the examples Jesus gives is no theory, but what he lived. Just read the passion narrative. And it requires divine grace, it requires becoming “children of the Most High” and acting like Our Father. It requires “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” And Jesus did not say, “This is an ideal, of course, and quite exaggerated, so realize you will never reach it.” No, he as a human being lived it as did the saints.

It starts of course with stopping our judging altogether, handing over judgment to God, and releasing our claims for justice into Jesus’ hand, which is what forgiveness is.

And that is what it takes to make progress towards transformation

Recognize that this is beyond us, that we are bound by the judgments and calls for justice of the first Adam.

Stop and pray picturing the handing over of the issue or person to Jesus, doing this repeatedly until your general activation syndrome calms down.

Then pray blessing on the other, whether it be “bless x in any way you can, Lord,” or specifically praying for some act of love God can do for the person, including keeping them from more evil or bringing them to repentance. Often this means praying with tears.

I did not make this up; I dare not water it down as many do; I can only be a pilgrim on the way, for I want to be like my Father.