Our Divine Longing for Justice
September
3, 2024
The spiritual tradition of the Church has been constant
in its teaching that “the Spirit of God unfailingly produces peace in our
souls, and the devil unfailingly produces agitation.” (Jacques Philippe, In the School of the Holy Spirit,
Scepter, New York, 2007, p. 52). In the
course of the day so many “good thoughts” may occur to us: thoughts of service,
of caring for others, of forgiving them. Often, these good thoughts do not come
from ourselves, but from the Holy Spirit in our heart. Acting on these
inspirations from the Paraclete will fill us with gaudium cum pace, with
joy imbued with peace.
How very true, indeed!!! Oftentimes I experience the above and I
tell you every time I do, I get to smile. Pope Francis also said something
about the Gospel, the good news. “There is no other way than gratuitous joy
because the good news touches the soul and that makes us smile.”
Gratuitous
joy is actually joy that comes from gratitude.
Gratitude is provoked when one humbly recognizes something is undeserved. In reality everything in life is a gift;
undeserved. There is an article, “It is
Right and Just: Justice (I)” in
opusdei.org that beautifully elaborates on this virtue.
This is just a
part of it. [If, as has traditionally been
affirmed, justice consists in giving each person their due, what they truly
deserve, then we are confronting an interior disposition that highlights the
human being’s relational dimension. So we can ask ourselves, first of all, what
we owe to God or what a just relationship is with the one who is the Source of
everything good, beginning with our very existence.
The Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass provides us with a
good starting point. This is how the brief dialogue between the priest and the
faithful that introduces the preface always ends: “Let us give thanks to the
Lord our God. —It is right and just” (Cf. Roman
Missal, Eucharistic Prayer). Gratitude and justice might at
first seem opposed to each other. A gift is characterized precisely by being
undeserved, while gratitude is the recognition that a person has gone beyond
what is strictly due. But when facing God everything changes completely, since
He is the source of everything we are and possess. As Saint Paul says, What
do you have that you did not receive? (1 Cor 4:7). Our
life therefore is a totally undeserved gift; hence, with respect to God,
gratitude is a deep duty. We can never pay Him back for everything He does for
us, and this is in no way unjust. But it is something deeply due to Him, deeply
just: thanking Him for everything.
Discovering that our relationship with God is marked by
his free and loving gift helps us to accept joyfully our life as his children
and frees us from a view of faith that is excessively focused on the “letter”
of the commandments. Instead of being overwhelmed by what could seem an endless
list of goals or precepts by which we somehow try to “pay back” the price of
our redemption, we come to see our response to God’s love as our willingness to
give him every moment in our life, convinced that we will never be able to
thank Him enough for everything He has given us. Thus, for example, being
faithful to a plan of spiritual life, rather than a burden of conscience in the
face of acquired commitments, can be seen as the most direct manifestation of
our gratitude to the love God bestows on each one. “If you are really striving
to be just, you will often reflect on your utter dependence upon God, and be
filled with gratitude and the desire to repay the favors of a Father who loves
us to the point of madness: ‘For what do you have that you have not received?’” (Saint Josemaría, Friends of God, no.
167)].
How very true! Reflect on the above frequently and you will be happily recognizing God’s provident and loving care every moment of your life. But let us now continue with our divine longings which is not opposed to what we have just read.
We are beginning the chapter
that talks about our divine longing for justice hidden behind the sin of wrath (From
Broken Gods, Hope, Healing, and the
Seven Longings of the Human Heart, Gregory K. Popcak, Ph. D. Ch 6).
Satisfying the Divine Longing for
Justice
The time is out of joint. O, cursed spite, that ever I was born to set it right!—Hamlet, Act 1, scene 5, lines 190-191
Life is no picnic. Turning on the news is almost always a terrifying experience. And on the personal front, it can be hard to get through the first few hours of the morning without being affronted by some injustice, no matter how petty. The kids left their toys on the stairs, again. Your spouse slept in and now is being irritable with you as he or she runs around trying to get ready for work. Maybe you’re still fuming about the comment your sister made over the weekend. No, things are not the way things are supposed to be.
Frankly, it has always seemed curious to me that we expect things should be different and somehow better than they are. On what, exactly, do we realistically base this expectation? Perfection is completely outside of our experience. When have we ever encountered everything literally going exactly as it should?
On those rare days when even most things go according to plan, doesn’t it seem like something just short of a miracle? Chaos is the norm, yet we never seem to expect it. No matter how normal, even natural, disorder is, we never count on it as reason says we should. Contrary to conventional wisdom, with so much imperfection, chaos, and, yes, evil filling our days, isn’t it strange that we should simply assume that the world should work better than it does? Where does this strange and incredible presumption come from?
Let us try working on this
challenge this week until the next.
See you in the next post, “May tomorrow be a perfect day; may you find love and laughter along the way; may God keep you in his tender care; ‘til He brings us together again.”
Affectionately,
Guadalupinky
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