God desires all of us to live in justice. He, the Lord, is the ruler and the just one who will come to rule the earth with justice. Yet, in our human weakness, we might anticipate and desire that justice would come sooner rather than later.
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we learn: “Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called ‘the virtue of religion.’ Justice toward men disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good” (1807).
In the Book of Malachi, we read about the justice to come, “For the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble” (3:19). We certainly don’t see all the evil rooted out of the world today. In fact, most of us have endured difficulty at the hands of evil. Perhaps it was being bullied as a kid, taken advantage of by someone else, or some other difficulty we are facing in adulthood. It can be difficult to witness and endure evil and difficulties without the satisfaction of instant justice.
Yet, later in that same reading, we find Malachi talking about justice in God’s time, not ours: “But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays” (3:20). I find it interesting that Malachi describes justice as warmth and healing rays. Often, we might envision our own participation in justice as a swift, even aggressive correction of some evil deed. But our own participation looks much different.
Justice is a cardinal virtue. At its heart, it is the practice of owing or giving to another what is properly theirs. We know that every person is created in the image of God. Because of this, we owe to others kindness, mercy, respect, forgiveness and charity. Our participation in healing the injustices of the world comes not from violence or sinful anger, but from the healing rays of our radiating God’s love to others, even if we were the one who experienced the injustice.
It takes great strength to face evil with good, a strength that comes not from our own will, but from the Holy Spirit and our active reception of God’s grace and participation in his love. Because we live in a very secular culture, a world where there’s greater and greater persecution of many people, including Christians and Catholics, we must grow in intimacy with God, so that we have everything we need to stand strong in a time of great trials. We must address injustices in the way God desires so we are animated by grace when we deal with those injustices.
Let us evermore turn to the Lord and ask for the wisdom to know what to do, and to remember the words of Christ from the Gospel, “By your perseverance you will secure your lives” (Lk 21:19). Let’s pray for each other to be fervent in living our faith, to strive for every virtue we can, and to beg God for all the graces we need so that we can be the ambassadors of God’s healing rays of justice in the world today, regardless of the cost to any of us and all of us.
