The Word of God – August 21, 2024 Reflection

 

THE WORD OF GOD – AUGUST 21, 2024 REFLECTION 

Liturgical Calendar Day: St. Pius X, Pope – Memorial

Scripture Text: Ez 34:1-11; Mt 20:1-16

Sanctoral: 1 Thess 2:2b-8; Jn 21:15-17

“‘Am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matthew 20:15-16)

Equal pay for equal work, the principle goes, and it’s enshrined in international law besides numerous jurisdictions throughout the world. The principle, which guarantees and protects against discrimination in the workplace, is founded on human rights, one of the mainstays of legal practice and political and social advocacy globally.

However, human justice is not divine justice. Consider, for example, the following.

“If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11)

God does not treat us as we deserve. He does not mete out punishment according to the impossible weight of our sins but rather blesses his children with overabundance.

“‘We must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’” (Luke 15:32)

God’s justice is restorative, surpassingly so, way over and above retribution.

“Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:21-22)

In this life, God’s mercy is a bottomless well. As children of our heavenly Father, we are commanded to do likewise.

God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something. (1 Corinthians 1:27-28)

God distributes his gifts freely, not according to human calculation or merit. Our all too limited understanding cannot possibly encompass the action of the divine will.

God is perfect in an absolute sense, according to Saint Thomas Aquinas. Consequently, God is also transcendent. His perfection cannot be understood in the manner proper to human beings, who use meaningful apprehension and discursive reasoning to break down reality into parts.

Divine justice, like any of God’s essential attributes, transcends human understanding.

Saint Catherine of Siena in “A Treatise of Discretion” relates the following private revelation to her from God the Father.

“The despair of Judas displeased Me more, and was more grave to My Son than was his betrayal of Him. So that they are reproved of this false judgment, which is to have held their sin to be greater than My mercy, and, on that account, are they punished with the devils, and eternally tortured with them.”

Do we pray to God to enlighten us according to his mind and understanding?

Do we strive to forgive all who offend and have offended us, in obedience to God’s command?