IF YOU WANT JUSTICE,
WORK FOR PEACE
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “If You Want Justice, Work for
Peace.”
That’s a saying that Pope Paul VI gets credit for -
putting it out there on January 1, 1972
in a message for the celebration of the Day of Peace.
We
all know the beatitude: “Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall be called
children of God.”
We all know and say the Peace Prayer coming from the
tradition of St. Francis of Assisi. “Lord, make me an instrument of your
peace….today.”
TODAY’S READINGS
I thought of Paul VI’s message, “If you want justice,
work for peace” when I read today’s readings.
Jeremiah 25 - today’s first reading - proclaims - that “The Lord’s name is
justice.”
How do you describe, how do you define, justice.
I like to say it means fairness - the very word - every
kid screams in games or on how he or she
feels they are being treated. “It’s not fair, Bobby can stay up later than me.”
“It’s not fair, the teacher like Sally more than me.”
Paul VI was saying: if we treat each other with fairness
and equal respect, we’ll have more peace in the family, in the world, in our
groups.
The Psalm response for today was:
“Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for
ever.”
Today’s gospel describes Joseph
as a righteous man. He treated Mary
well.
THE CATHOLIC SOCIAL DOCUMENTS /
TEACHINGS
Paul VI gets credit for putting into one short sentence
the essence of Catholic Social Teachings. “If You Want Justice, Work for
Peace.”
I keep hearing in meetings - and in writings - the call of our Catholic Church to evangelize
the world.
Sometimes I wonder just what evangelization means. Is it
pushing for a strict and narrow agenda - liberal or
conservative positions? Is it simply to teach, preach, stress the gospel to our
world?
If Catholics knew our Social Justice documents - and then
tried to work them into our lives - our families and our neighborhoods - and
our world, then I think things would be clearer what Christ was about.
I would be strongly in favor of pushing that agenda: that
everyone knew Rerum Novarum [Leo
XIII, 1891], Quadragesimo Anno 1931, Mater et Magister [1961], Pacem in Terris [1963] , Populorum
Progressio, Humanae Vitae [1968]. Labore, exercens [1981], Caritas in veritate, [John Paul II,
2009 and Laudato si [2015] from Pope Francis on the environment.
However, if the Church stressed and preached on the
social justice teachings, there would be complaints and screaming. People would say, “This is politics!” “This
is socialism.” “You can’t preach in the pulpit about Labor Unions or Capital
Punishment or the Climate.”
THE CROSS
The cross is central to this church building - this large
crucifix on the front wall of our church here at St. John Neumann.
Christ was crucified for a reason.
I wonder when I think about what we’re called to preach
about: Do we ever preach messages that could get us killed?
It was Jesus’ call to die to self and selfishness and to
sacrifice and care for others.
Read Matthew 25: 31-46: I was hungry, I was sick, I was naked, I
was in prison and you visited and tried to help me.
Read Galatians 6:2: “Bear one another’s burdens and this
way you’ll fulfill the law of Christ.”
Listen to these words from St. Basil the Great, “When someone steals another's
clothes, we call them a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who
could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the
hungry; the coat unused in your closet belongs to the one who needs it; the
shoes rotting in your closet belong to the one who has no shoes; the money
which you hoard up belongs to the poor.”
CONCLUSION
The title of my homily for today was: “If You Want
Justice, Work for Peace.”
This message from Pope Paul VI is a one sentence message
that is central to the great collection of Social Justice Encyclicals or
Letters from our recent popes.
If people knew this is what we stand for, would they
still stand with the Church? Or would
they walk away - because their religion stays inside the church buildings?
