13 Aug 2015
Some people wonder: if God is a just God, why is there hell
and purgatory. If God was really just,
they say, God wouldn’t be standing in judgment all the time; instead, he be
loving and forgiving all the time. And, really,
that’s what Jesus seems to be saying when he says: Forgive others “not seven
times but seventy-seven times.” He says:
Be forgiving and loving all the time, regardless.
But, really, the justice of God—and justice in its basic
sense—is about giving to others what is their due. For example, it’s a matter of simple justice
that a newborn receives medical care to ensure its well-being. And in his perfect justice, God gives us what
is our due as his beloved creatures.
He gives us autonomy, free will, and is endlessly patient
with us. And he wants only the best for
us in all things. And so, in that spirit
of justice, God won’t ever stomp on
our choices or force us to love his
ways. No, God respects us and our
decisions; he gives us our due as free creatures. And so, he simply responds to us according to
what we tell him we want—whether we tell him by our words or our actions.
God is eternally
forgiving and merciful, loving and compassionate. God does
forgive “seventy-seven times;” over and over again he forgives us. And in his justice, God opens the doors of
his Sacred Heart to all those who sincerely want
to know him. Nobody is rejected.
The only ones who feel the “sting” of God’s justice are those
who intentionally and definitively decide they want nothing whatever
to do with God. And what else would a
just God say to them, except, “Ok, if that’s what you want. That’s too bad. But if you want the sting of loneliness and
anger, the sting of self-hatred and the absence of love, you can have it. It’s your choice.” Of course, the “sting” of God’s justice is entirely
self-inflicted.
Our God is an eternally just God. He gives us our due; he respects our freedom
and desires as his beloved sons and daughters in Christ. In his love and mercy, he asks us: “What do
you want in life, my children?” And in
his justice, he gives us what we ask for—nothing more and nothing less. And there’s no trickery involved, just
honesty in the heart.
The God of justice gives us what we ask for. And, in return, may we give God his due with
a simple and honest prayer of gratitude.
No comments:
Post a Comment