1st Sunday of Advent 2.12.18 Justice restored
In films the hero and heroine go against the odds and manage
to survive all sorts of dangers, outwit the villains of the story. And usually
manage to marry each other as well. And all this in 90 minutes!
Real life is not so easy. We might have 90 years instead of
90 minutes, yet not see things wrapped up so neatly. We have known trouble all
our lives, and we may have a lot more of it to come.
We know that the good will be rewarded and the evil
punished, but we may not live to see it; or it may happen in ways that we
cannot recognize.
Here we have to trust in Almighty God who sees all things
and has all time in His hands.
He knows who committed all the murders, who stole the money,
who told which lies, who set others on the wrong path etc. Nothing is hidden
from His sight, or lost to His memory.
We would like to see it all sorted out in our time, but God
has His time. He can see a lot further than we can, and He is working to a very
definite plan.
God seeks to save as many people as possible. This requires
time. As in the parable of the wheat and the tares (Mt 13,24-30), He does not
punish all evil immediately or to its full extent.
He has given the human race at least twenty centuries to
come right with Him; and maybe more centuries to come.
We should not be distressed by that large sweep of time. We ourselves
benefit from God's mercy, so we should not be too hasty in demanding justice,
or we might get more than we want!
We are firmly promised that it will all be sorted out. The
good will be rewarded and also compensated for any innocent suffering they have
endured. Blessed
are you who weep now, for you shall laugh (Lk 6,21). He has brought down the
mighty from their thrones and raised up the lowly (Lk 1, 52). For the needy
shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish
forever. (Ps 9,18)
Many people have been grievously mistreated, such as in torture,
murders, genocide, concentration camps, all manner of injustice. God will see that the poor and the oppressed
will be restored. If not in this life, then the next.
This is the thrust of many of our Advent readings; that the
displaced people will once again find a home; that a lost paradise will be
restored.
The evildoers can be forgiven if they have genuine sorrow;
otherwise only Hell remains for them. We should want them to be forgiven
because that is what God Himself wants.
On the Last Day all will be made clear, everything said in
secret will be proclaimed from the housetop (Lk 12,3) - not literally, but in
the sense that truth will prevail over all deception, a time for all the loose
ends to be tidied up.
We have the chance now, while still alive, and not yet the
Last Day - to tidy up our lives as far as we can. We can tie up as many of
those loose ends as we can, to prepare the way; to take the fear out of the
final judgment. We will not be afraid if we have built up our union with Our
Lord.
We thank God for who and what He is. We thank Him in advance
for what is still to come, the Second Coming of Christ.
This event will satisfy our thirst for justice, promised to
the pure of heart (Mt 5,6 and 5,8).
It will also satisfy our desire for mercy, as we see the sin
of all ages removed, and the contrite of heart rewarded.
We can hasten this event by our expectant hope (2 P 3,12);
so let us hasten.
Come, Lord Jesus!
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