7th Sunday of OT—Fr. Leo Schneider
In our readings today, mercy triumphs over justice. David shows mercy to his enemy and gains his respect. In the Gospel, we are told to let the sinner have their way and let God minister justice.
I must confess, for me this is an ideal. I think there are times when we must defend ourselves. When we don’t, we enable the sinner at best. I would want the same for myself if I sin against the community, I want to be corrected so we can grow in grace.
Even in monasteries, there have been cases where a brother continually disrupts the life of the community. And when there is no evidence of desire or ability to change, it becomes necessary for the community and the abbot to have that person leave for another community or simply be removed as a member of the community.
The church also embraces the just war theory. Meaning it is justified to use force in defending our inalienable rights. If, a man breaks into a home armed to kill, we understand that the people in the home have a right to use equal force to protect their lives.
What I do like about the ideal of letting mercy triumph is that most of the time it would be the right thing to do. Kindness is more effective in many cases than force. We can be reactive and need to temper our fight or flight response with wisdom.
Some may feel we have been without justice in our city with car jackers being released back into the streets. Personally, I think this is the case, but we need to be helpful. Not enabling but enforcing programs that can lead the victimizers to become honest and caring fellows in our community.
Wisdom and grace are our guide to balance justice and mercy. For this let us let us pray, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen