XXIV — PERFECT JUSTICE

Presence of God. — O Lord, who are just and love just actions, teach me the perfection of justice.

Meditation

1 — The justice of a soul that aspires to perfection is not cold, arid, miserly, or confined to what is absolutely due, but is broad, liberal, generous — vivified by the expansive breath of charity. It therefore presses far beyond material justice — which invests only external actions without proceeding from the heart — and is above all interior justice: that is, rectitude of heart and mind, justice of thoughts, desires, sentiments, and intentions. The soul that possesses it has not heard in vain the word of Jesus: “Unless your justice exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 5, 20). The justice of the Pharisees was insufficient precisely because it confined itself to a purely external observance of legal prescriptions, while making no scruple of stealthily trampling upon sacred duties; those men cloaked their public conduct in the mantle of justice, without troubling themselves to inspire their private conduct, their affections, and the desires of their heart with justice. What can it avail, for instance, to pose in public as a defender of the people’s rights, if privately one does not pay one’s workers according to justice, or is lacking in honesty in commerce, in business, or in the exercise of one’s profession? What can it avail to surround a person with kind words and promises, and even to make gifts, if one refuses to recognize and respect that person’s rights?

The soul athirst for justice holds all such ways of proceeding in horror, and, far from contenting itself with appearing just in actions that may be scrutinized by others, desires to be just in all — even in those that escape the gaze of men and are known to God alone. Above all it desires the justice of the heart and of the mind, because only from interior justice will exterior justice proceed.

2 — If with respect to ourselves we must be rigorous in demanding justice in all our internal and external actions, we must not be equally so with regard to our neighbor. No one came to bring justice to the world more than Jesus did, and no one acted more than He with kindness and gentleness. Even when, by reason of office or apostolate, one has the duty of safeguarding and establishing justice in a particular environment, one must be on guard against proceeding with rigor and must instead act with goodness, seeking to persuade rather than to impose. He who claims to establish justice by force will obtain nothing — or at most a forced settlement that will soon collapse. Following the example of Jesus, one must seek to make justice penetrate souls and society through charity, love, and understanding of others’ weaknesses; and if we wish to be realists, we must also remember that, however much one does, it will never be possible to obtain on this earth — not even in the best of environments — an absolute justice. Perfect justice we shall have only in heaven; even Jesus bore with the injustices of Judas and the Pharisees, and, though He could have done otherwise, He did not wish the weeds to be uprooted from the field before the time of the harvest. Especially when it is a matter of injustices that strike at our own person, we must be very long-suffering and merciful. For a soul that aspires to holiness, one may well say that the greatest justice consists precisely in bearing patiently and humbly the injustices of which it is the target — since it would be absurd to think of attaining perfection without following the road trodden by Jesus. If He, most innocent, suffered so many injustices without murmuring, will it not be just that we, who are sinners, should endure at least some of them — not by striking the attitude of victims, but with holy composure and serenity? Justice itself, therefore, also impels us to bear injustices; in this very manner the virtue that begins by obliging us to render to each his due, reaches its culmination by inclining our souls to enter fully into the way of holiness and union with God.

Colloquy

“Justice proceeds from You, O God; it has its eye ever fixed upon You and justly renders to each what is his due. But what is this justice, and what does it mean that it ever looks toward You? Oh, justice is a perfection of Yours — or rather, justice properly speaking is You, O God! And he who reflects this virtue in himself keeps his gaze fixed upon You, because he resembles You and wishes to resemble You in all his actions, acting always without deceit or fraud. Contemplating You further, O incarnate Word, the soul sees You so just that, rather than be lacking in justice, You willed to punish in Yourself our sins; and therefore it too desires to do justice upon itself for its own errors. But it also sees that in You justice does not refuse mercy, so that You, O Christ, nourish with Yourself Your redeemed: You nourish them with Your words, works, and examples, but far more with Your precious Blood” (cf. St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi).

“O Lord, the fragrance of Your justice is everywhere and so abundant that You are called not simply the Just One, but Justice itself — indeed, the Justice that justifies; and the more You are inclined to pardon, the more abundantly You can justify. Therefore, whoever, detesting his faults, hungers and thirsts after justice may hope in You who justify the ungodly.

“Let no one presume to think that his justice or his holiness is sufficient to assure him his salvation. Therefore I run to You, O Jesus: Your Passion is the supreme refuge, the one remedy! It succors us when our wisdom fails, when justice is too feeble and the merits of our holiness are of no avail. When my strength begins to waver, I shall not lose courage. I know well what I must do: I will take the chalice of salvation and invoke the name of the Lord. Enlighten my eyes, O Lord, that I may know what pleases You at every moment, and then I shall be wise. Forgive the faults of my youth and of my ignorance, and I shall be just. Guide me, O Lord, on Your way, and I shall be holy. But if Your Blood does not intercede for me, I shall not be saved” (St. Bernard).