Readings of the day: Isaiah 42:1-7; Psalm 27:1, 2, 3, 13-14; John 12:1-11
“I… have called you for the victory of
justice,” God says through the prophet Isaiah in today’s first reading. Of
whose “victory of justice” does Isaiah speak?
Holy Week is our final preparation for
the ultimate “victory of justice”: Jesus’ death on a cross for us. This is not a
“victory of justice” brought on by anything we have done right or in retribution
for what we have done wrong. This is God’s “victory of justice,” willed freely
by God for our salvation.
And so is this not also our “victory of
justice”? We are not mere spectators to God’s justice, so how do we make God’s “victory
of justice” our own? Our answer to this question may seem obvious. We know what
is right and just, and so we are called to act in ways that are right and just.
Our Christian faith calls us to protect basic human rights, first and foremost
that of life from conception to natural death. Our Christian faith calls us to
use the prosperity we have to benefit the most vulnerable: People who are poor;
the working poor; people who lack adequate shelter, water, and food; people who
are ill; refugees and migrants. To protect the dignity of those most in need is
our foremost “victory of justice”; how we become united in God’s “victory of
justice.”
But what if we have little to
give to help those who are in need? What if we cannot, as individuals, change social
structures of sin that keep many mired in poverty; in violence; in injustice
even in our own country? What if, even when we reject or at least do not
participate in gossip or political partisanship, we see these continue and even
increase in our culture? How do we promote God’s “victory of justice” then?
A saying by Blessed Mother Teresa of
Calcutta comes to my mind when I think of how we might promote God’s “victory
of justice” in our world today. Mother Teresa said: “We can do no great things;
only small things with great love.” For whom have we or will we do a small act
of kindness today? How will we show to somebody the “victory of [God’s] justice,”
which is the same to me as the victory of kindness and mercy? Who has recently
shown us God’s justice; God’s mercy; God’s kindness, even in a small way?
And, above all, when we know we have
failed to show forth God’s “victory of justice,” may we never despair of God’s
mercy. May we never despair, even when we fall into the same sins; the same
lack of justice, and even confess these repeatedly. May we heed the words of
our Gospel Acclamation to God this morning: “You alone are compassionate with
our faults.”
Might Judas Iscariot’s greatest sin not
have been stealing from “the contributions” to the poor; not have been his betrayal
of Jesus, but despair? God keeps calling us to small acts of “great love,” so
may we never despair! God knows our works, individually and socially, for and
against justice. Still, God is “compassionate with our faults.” By Christ’s Passion
and death God has redeemed us and made us co-workers in his “victory of justice.”
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