Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
One of the notions we struggle with as human beings, from very early in life, is that of justice. It seems bound up very early with the very experience of our existence: ‘It’s not fair,” the child is heard to say. It echoes through adolescence – to the frequent exasperation of parents and teachers. And it carries on into supposed adulthood!
One of the reasons we need to continually hear, year after year, the whole range of Divine Revelation in the books of the Old and New Testaments, is to learn what justice—God’s justice really refers to.
The Sacred Scriptures we have heard today place before us the Just One, the One truly right with God. His justice or righteousness is not self‑righteousness, but a righteousness which comes from His Father’s justice. We hear of it in Isaiah:
And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins. Is. 11.3‑5
Divine revelation and human life continually call us to know the truth about ourselves. We are constantly being “offended” —or so we think. We say, for example, ‘Now why did he speak to me in that way? Or, who does he think he is cutting in ahead of me!
Jesus Christ comes into our midst—in word and sacrament—to teach and empower us to the truth about who we are. His Eucharist says, ‘I died for you, you are precious in my eyes!’ And his word says, ‘Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled while he who humbles himself shall be exalted.’
Reflection by Fr. Xavier Nacke, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections