Deacons' Council Diocese of Orlando at 135 Marion Oak Lane, Ocala, FL 34473-2631 US - Mercy, Justice and a Truly Catholic Lent

Deacon Henry Libersat Justice. You hear about, preach about it. You seek justice in daily relationships. You want justice to prevail in society, in the legal system, in international relations. But, is justice understood – the kind of justice which God seeks, the kind of justice proclaimed as the ideal in Holy Scripture? Mercy and justice go hand in hand. “Mercy” has its roots in a woman’s womb. The epitome of “mercy” is that attitude of a pregnant woman for the child in her womb. She lives for that child. She eats carefully for the sake of her unborn baby. Alcohol and tobacco are set aside; exercise is a must; regular visits to the doctor are faithfully kept. Her body changes shape. She needs new clothes. Her moods swing. She gains weight. Her back hurts and her legs and feet swell. It is hard for her to rise after sitting. And she embraces all this for the sake of her unborn baby. She is merciful to the point of self sacrifice. This mercy is an expression of the kind of justice God practices and seeks in his children. God’s kind of justice gives a person what she or he deserves by nature, by who he or she is as a child of God made in the image of God. The pregnant woman gives her child what it needs as a human being – security, the right to life, protection against accident or disease – regardless of the discomfort and inconvenience caused by her pregnancy. Legal justice addresses what a person does, not what a person is. Biblical justice is rarely, if ever, achieved in the legal system. Justice is more than retribution, punishment, protection of society. And in community life, justice for the disenfranchised is more than a Christmas or Thanksgiving basket for the poor. Justice, realized in its highest expression, gives to the Father what he deserves as the One, True and Almighty God. Or, pure justice gives back to the Father that which has been taken from him – his children. To be just is to do what the God wills. In Lenten Gospels, Jesus refuses to deny his Father and follow Satan (Lk 4:1-13); the Lord shows the Father’s unconditional and passionate love in the parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15:1-3, 11-32); Jesus refuses to condemn the adulterous woman (Jn 8:1-11). It is stunning to realize that the greatest injustice in the history of mankind achieved the greatest justice. Jesus suffered the ultimate injustice – he, Innocence itself, was condemned as blasphemer and brigand. He died the sinner’s death – on the cross. Yet in that terrible injustice, he returned to his Father and our Father what had been snatched away by Satan in Eden – his children, you, me, everybody. If we are to “do justice,” we must see in every person the object of Christ’s sacrificial love. If Christ died for each person, if each person was created by God in his own image, then how we treat people is how we treat God (Mt 25:40). It is not enough to provide Easter egg hunts, Thanksgiving and Christmas toys and food. Justice, the kind which derives from the heart of God, demands that society’s attitudes change, that prejudices be wiped out, that economic imbalances be corrected; that the powerless be given power; that cultures blend and complement rather than clash. Justice demands the kind of mercy expressed by a mother toward her unborn child. We must love and care for others regardless of personal discomfort and inconvenience. And more, we must be courageously prophetic in our quest for biblical justice. Lent – for the deacon: A time to preach biblical justice, a time to show by word and deed what it means to be just as God wants his people to be just. A time to help people move from that lame duck sense of justice born of law to that liberating sense of justice born of God’s mercy and love. (Recommended reading: “Preaching the Just Word” by Father Walter Burghardt, SJ. Deacon Henry Libersat is a veteran journalist, author and popular preacher. He has preached the word in Canada, South America, the Virgin Islands, Peru, Brazil and in the U.S. He ministers at St. Mary Magdalen Parish, Altamonte Springs, FL. His email address: henry-peg@worldnet.att.net and his address is 807 Kilt Court, Winter Springs, FL 32708.)

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