With school about to start, I was thinking recently about my
own school days. Particularly, how from kindergarten
to high school graduation we began each school day, as did children across our
nation, with the “Pledge of Allegiance”.
We pledged allegiance to the flag, to the republic, and to the ideals of
liberty and justice for all.
The prophet Isaiah speaks of Justice to the Jews in our
first reading saying, “Observe what is right, do what is just."
Justice is one of the most important principles for any
society. By justice we live in right
relation to each other. Justice demands
that the rights of individuals be protected and defended; it demands that we
treat each other honestly, that we are governed honestly. Justice keeps the strong and powerful from
trampling upon the helpless and lowly, it safeguards us from the abuses of
power by those in authority.
Institutions, like businesses and governments become corrupt
precisely when the precepts of justice are ignored, when people take more than
their fair share, when they abuse their power, they act unjustly. We have a justice system precisely to
safeguard us from injustice, to distribute just punishments for crimes as well
as settling debts.
Children owe respect and obedience to their parents. Parents owe food, shelter, clothing,
education, and discipline to their children.
Spouses owe to each other love, fidelity, patience, and
forgiveness. We owe to our fellow man
common courtesy and patience. A parish
priest owes to the Church providing for the spiritual needs of his
parishioners, preaching the Gospel in its entirety, praying daily for the needs
of the Church, celebrating Mass and other liturgy according to the rubrics,
providing parents with the tools necessary to raise their children in the
faith, making the Sacraments readily available.
This is what we owe to each other whether it’s convenient or not.
When French political thinker and historian Alexis de
Tocqueville visited our country in 1831 he became so impressed with how
Americans treated each other, by the way we upheld Justice, how justice flowed
from the practice of our faith that he went home and wrote his famous book,
“Democracy in America”.
He wrote, “there is no country in the world where the
Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in
America.” Though the many Christian
denominations differed in the way we worshiped God, our moral unity, as a
nation, became the source of our country’s greatness.
Though government is absolutely excluded in determining
matters of religion, the religious morality of the American people is meant to
shape and determine how our nation is governed.
In fact, the founding Fathers insisted that public officials should NOT
be chosen if they were lacking in virtue and failed to demonstrate wisdom. Samuel Adams would often quote Proverbs 29
verse 2 which says: when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;
but when the wicked bear rule, the people mourn.”
That many of our public officials could not even quote the
10 commandments let alone show proof that they live by them, should cause us
great alarm.
“Observe what is right, do what is just; for my salvation is
about to come,” Isaiah reminded the Jews.
The road to salvation involves living justly. Justice includes what we owe to each other,
but also what we owe to God. Our Lord himself tells us, “render unto Caesar
what is Caesar’s and unto God, what belongs to God’s.”
What does belong to God?
What do we owe God? Well, everything
of course. Psalm 116 says “how can I
make a return for the goodness of God.”
He gave us the gift of life; every breath we take is a gift from God. How can we possibly pay him back for
that? He gave us parents and caretakers to
provide for us, to feed us, to clothe us, and protect us when we couldn’t do
those things for ourselves. How can we make
recompense to God for that?
Well, as finite creature, justice demands that we must give back
to God what we are able to.
One writer stated, a just man is foremost a grateful
man. He realizes that the good things he
has are gifts. So we owe God our
gratitude for the blessings we’ve received from him. Even the celebration of Mass recognizes
this. At every Mass, the priest says,
“let us give thanks to the Lord Our God,” and the people respond, “it is right
and just.” It is right and just, our
duty, and our salvation, always and everywhere to give God thanks.
The word Eucharist comes from the greek new testament word
meaning thanksgiving. First and foremost
at every Mass we give God Eucharistic Thanksgiving for the gift of our
salvation, we give God thanks for the blessing of life, and the blessings which
fill our lives.
What else do we owe God?
We owe him our daily prayers.
Because it is right and just that we give God adoration simply for being
the God of the universe and Creator of all things and the redeemer of our
souls. Praying daily as a matter of
justice.
What else do we owe God?
Because he is the giver of every gift, it is right and just that we make
requests to Him for the things only he can grant. There are gifts that God wishes to give us
which can only be received through our prayers.
He’s waiting for us simply to acknowledge that they come from Him. And so it is right and just for us to pray
for them.
Like the Canaanite woman in the Gospel today, we need to
persevere and persevere in our requests to the Lord, because it is also right
and just that at times our faith be tested.
What else do we owe God?
Because he is right and just, and the source of rightness and justice,
we owe him obedience to his commandments.
We owe him faithfulness. And when
we’ve wronged, when we’ve disobeyed his commands, when we’ve sinned, it is
right and just to give God our sorrow, we owe him our repentance. If we commit a mortal sin, it is right and
just for us to go confession before we can receive Holy Communion again.
We attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, we
abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent, we fast on Ash Wednesday and Good
Friday, we contribute financially to the works of the Church, because it is
right and just to keep the precepts of the Church which he established. Again,
whether it’s convenient or not.
This week we celebrated a Holy Day of Obligation, and I must
be honest it’s often worrisome for us priests when we see Holy Day attendance and
Sunday attendance starting to decrease, not so much because the offertory also decreases. But we start to wonder and worry, what is
going on in the hearts and minds of our people, when they no longer believe
it’s important to go to Mass.
That there were less than 15 15 to 35 years olds who
attended Mass on the Holy Day of Obligation this week, is deeply troubling. We priests begin to wonder, have we as
priests committed the injustice of failing to pass on the faith? Have we failed to help parents raise their
children in faith?
In the saints, we see men and woman, who not only satisfy
the bare minimums of justice, but truly go beyond justice to heroic acts of
charity. On Thursday, the Church
celebrated the feast of the priest, Father Maximillian Kolbe. In 1939, the Nazis bombed and invaded the
polish town in which Father Kolbe was stationed. He was arrested and transported to the Nazi
concentration camp at Aushwitz. One day,
several prisoners managed to escape their unjust imprisonment. But in retaliation 10 people were sentenced
to die. When a married Jewish man with a
family was among them, Fr. Kolbe asked to take his place. He was starved for 10 days then given a
lethal injection.
We like the Saints, are not called to give God the bare
minimum of what is right and just because really there is no bare minimum. Our whole lives are meant to be poured out in
service to God who has given us everything. Father Kolbe’s sacrifice was not a
sudden, last-minute act of heroism. His priesthood,
his life of prayer and generosity prepared him for that act of heroic love,
laying down his life for another.
In a few moments, we will utter those words, “it is right
and just”. May our lives become right
and just in the eyes of God through the celebration of these sacred mysteries for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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