Justice vs Fairness Continued

 As we read  last Sunday, God's ways are far above ours, but we are called to open wide our hearts and minds to receive His wisdom, His transcendence. Proverbs 9:10 states that: "The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord, and knowledge of the Holy one understanding."  This Sunday's readings begins with Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 18: 25-28

Thus says the Lord:  "You say, the Lord's way is not fair!"  Hear now, House of Israel:  Is it my way that is unfair, or rather are not your ways unfair?  When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit inequity and dies, it is because of the inequity that he must die.  But if he turns from the wickedness that he has committed, he does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life; since he has turned away from all the sins he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

It is in this reading that we see that the House of Israel's perception of what is fair, is not God's!  I am instantly brought back to last weeks post in which justice, God's justice, is compared with our human fairness.  It is not that fairness in and of itself is always wrong, but when we are cut lose from transcendent justice (God's ways), fairness is only based on the most superficial concepts of justice, and it often can only address the material realities, which leaves us blind to the ultimate unseen realities, and adrift in moral relativism! Grave injustice will always be the result, because this kind of superficial justice is blind (and not in the impartial sense) and cannot address the sickness in human souls, it can only respond to the outward manifestations of the inequities that hold individual souls hostage.  We become enslaved to the sin, because we cannot see it, and each one of us becomes weaker. And so, abortion becomes a difficult, but, compassionate solution to inequities in our social response to crises pregnancies.

 It is much harder to struggle to provide justice for the innocent child and the mother, but that is real justice, and it is not always comfortable.  True justice requires a deeper understanding of the the transcendence of God and of the ultimate eternal nature of each and every human being. We need to understand that to turn from virtue means death, eternal death.  We must be obstacles to that a turn that means death!

In the Pope's German address he says " we must rediscover our capacity to perceive God, a capacity that exists within us." In order to do this, we must understand how much we need God's mercy!  Collectively and individually.  "Ezekiel points out that we need to turn from our inequity, and we will receive God's mercy. But alas, we need a bit of perspective and perception to do that!  For this we need to allow the Spirit to give us a truer vision of the Lord, and a truer vision of who we are before the Almighty.

  And from here the readings flow into Philippians for the encouragement and further guidance needed in the light of Christ!

Phill 2 1-11

Brothers and Sisters if there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind with the same love, united in heart thinking one thing.  Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory, rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves. each looking out not for his own interest, but also for those of others.  Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus, who, though was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped.  Rather, he emptied himself, taking on the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance he humbled himself becoming obedient even to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Because of this God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father forever!

I must admit that Paul always gives me cause to pause and self examine, "do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory" (even blogging!)  Always  "humbly regard others as more important that yourselves"  As a frail and fallible human being, and as a mother, I know that this takes practice, and guidance and a vision that is strong in perceiving beauty and truth. And since I cannot uproot Paul from Sacred Scriptures, I have to read it in light of Ezekiel, to always be aware that God's justice is much higher than mine, and the mercy we bestow must always be guided with the keen awareness of the immortality of each and every soul.  We must in every way be stumbling blocks to those who are turning or have turned from the path of virtue! And we must be humbly vigilant over our own souls as well.

  How we need to be emptied of our selfishness and our vainglory to begin to truly move forward in authentic justice and lasting mercy! How we need to recover our sight , to recognize the holiness and authority of Christ Jesus, who showed us the way to the Wisdom of God!   How we need to have our eyes opened to the glimpses of the almighty and transcendent Lord, to open our hearts and turn away from the superficial, grasping at justice, to turn away from our ideas of fairness that encourage complacency and discourage virtue. We need to open wide our hearts, minds and souls to God who is pouring his love and mercy out upon us. We need to have our spiritual vision restored, or we will be like the Pharisees in the gospel, complacent and comfortable in their understanding of the Scriptures and of God,  unable to understand authentic justice, even when He is standing right in front of us!  

May the Lord grant each of us the heart mind and humility to seek Him in truth, to show us his paths and to remember not  the sins of our past!
Heidi

Reflections on Justice vs. Fairness

Isaiah 55: 6-9:  

 "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call him while he is near.  Let the scoundrel forsake his ways and the wicked his thoughts; let him turn to the Lord for mercy; to our God who is generous and forgiving.  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.  As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts".

In preparing for this Sunday's Scripture reflection a quote from one of my favorite C.S.Lewis novels, a book called 'Till We Have Faces' quickly came to mind.  The book is a wonderful read, it contains an underlying theme that nothing we see here on earth is yet in it's true form, thus, we do not yet have the capacity to understand it all.  In the book the main character, Orual, has come to the throne of the gods with a book of complaints that she has written against them, (it is set before the Christian era).  She is in the company of a dear old mentor of hers, the Fox, when he makes the extraordinary claim that she will not get justice from the gods, at least justice as she understands it.  "Are the God's not just?" she asks the Fox, to which he replies:  "Oh no child, what would become of us if they were?"

Thank goodness God's justice is not my justice. I can speak of understanding the gravity of God's justice, but his justice is perfect, and mine can often become shallow and petty, and fairness can triumph over justice in truth.   Does seeing justice done always mean that fairness is achieved?  And is we cannot see justice in a truer light, how will we ever be able to grasp what is true mercy?  It is not fair that a woman who is raped has to bear the emotional and physical burdens of a pregnancy for nine months, but how can we call abortion justice, or mercy? Have we lost our ability to perceive transcendent realities, like an innocent immortal soul that despite the injustice that has occurred in his or her conception, God has allowed and willed to live?  If we cannot discern the higher justice in allowing the child to be born, how will we even begin to be able to have an inkling about God's justice that is so far beyond our capacity to know?  Or how deep His mercy is?  Can I accept that I do not know all ends, and I must continue to call upon the Lord, whose greatness is unsearchable so that I can begin to understand that I do not understand!

If we lose the ability to appreciate the magnificent and unfathomable transcendence of God, and that our universe is full of signs pointing to this, directing us toward it, I fear that we will stunt all of our highest aspirations, both on a personal and a cultural level. Even if we mean them to provide lasting justice, these attempts will  prove to be a crumbling facade. We will get short term fairness, but in the end we will be weakened and our ability to call upon the Lord in truth will fade, because we will not have the heart to endure His greatness.

Anyone who has children knows what it can mean to serve the tyrant of "fairness" all the time.  It means that all projects have to be carefully weighed and measured, and generosity and creativity are sacrificed for it.  I have been a room mother to more that a few school parties, and it is getting increasingly difficult to find really fun and creative games, because, well....we don't want to seem unfair to the other class if your games are more fun, the other kids will be upset (seriously)!   Sometimes, though an apparently unfair situation can root out in you an area that really needs the generous mercy of the Lord.

The Gospel of Matthew has Jesus telling another parable, this one about a landowner seeking laborers for his fields.  At the end of the day all the workers are payed the same wage, even those who have only worked the final hour of the day.  And at this the faithful workers who labored all day in the sun complain that it is not fair!  His justice is not ours; and here he has, in his mercy, revealed that the faithful laborers in the field harbor in their hearts envy.  I say 'in His mercy' because it is all to common for the spirit of envy, or anger, or fear to be deeply hidden inside of us, and it is sometimes only revealed when our superficial ideas of fairness and justice are challenged.

 Here is the beginning of knowing the truth about ourselves, not so we can despair, but so we can call out to the Lord in truth!  And when we start to call out to the Lord in truth we will begin to understand that our understanding of life, joy, happiness suffering and death are far from complete.  He will begin to root out the ways in which we thwart authentic justice and therefore, authentic mercy. We will know of mercy undeserved, yet generously poured out, like Orual discovered in the book.   Because all is not yet revealed to us.  We can discover authentic fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, a wisdom that we dearly need.

Here is an awesome reflection by Mon. Pope on the Archdiocese of Washington blog.
Peace and Grace, Heidi