Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Our readings today speak to us about God’s justice and the power and mercy of the Just One at work in human lives. How are we to understand God’s justice? Today is the Memorial of St John of the Cross. In St John we find a beautiful exemplar, a soul seeking to know God and to find union with God. Through St John’s witness, I am persuaded that the only way to understand justice is to know the Just One. Indeed, the only way to understand and to embody any godly virtue is to know the One in whom those virtues were perfected. St John of the Cross, pray for us, that today we might grow in intimate knowledge of the Just One and that we might be people who seek God’s justice.
I recently had the opportunity and privilege of sitting on a jury. It was a criminal trial that lasted two days. I will admit that being part of the criminal justice system felt very intimidating. I felt the weightiness of the proceedings in a very visceral way. The burden of responsibility hung on my shoulders like a heavy yoke. The cry of my heart was that justice should prevail and that the defendant would receive justice and mercy in accordance with God’s will. As the trial got underway, I began to intercede for everyone in the courtroom and for the process. In fact, over the course of those two days, I realized that God had called me to intercede continuously for the defendant and his trial. Much of my prayer involved asking God to pour out wisdom, knowledge, understanding, insight, and discernment upon us, the jurors. I begged God to show us the just way and what justice looked like in this situation. I believe that God’s justice and mercy were indeed manifest as our “not guilty” verdict was delivered. This experience does beg the question, how can we know what justice looks like in any given situation? We find our answer in John of the Cross. He sought only to know God and to grow in intimacy, in union, with God moment by moment. It is only as we know the Just One better that we can understand justice from God’s perspective.
Isaiah makes his petition, “Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above, like gentle rain let the skies drop it down. Let the earth open and salvation bud forth; let justice also spring up!” What a beautiful, gentle image of God’s justice. This picture feels very different to me than the oftentimes onerous, intimidating, harsh legal system of which I was briefly a part. Our psalm response renders it like this, “Let the clouds rain down the Just One, and the earth bring forth a Savior.” It seems that the Church has equated justice with the Just One himself, by making those terms interchangeable. In, with, and through Jesus comes justice. Justice may manifest itself differently in different situations, but true justice flows from the heart and wounded side of Christ. We cannot know justice apart from the Just One.
Our psalm personifies justice and three other attributes of God, “Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven.” As I prayed in the courtroom those two days, I pleaded with God to show us the truth. The prosecuting attorney and the defense attorney each presented their version of “truth.” I was desperate to know the genuine truth. As I read the psalm today, I’m mindful that truth is not simply facts about an event, accurate details about an occurrence, or even abstract postulates to which one might ascent intellectually. Truth is a person, the Second Person of the Trinity. Notice the intimate and gentle interplay between the virtues, “Kindness and truth meet; justice and peace kiss.” Truth is met with kindness; justice has an intimate relationship, dare I say a union, with peace. Not something one would naturally think about in a courtroom where truth and justice are ordinarily such sterile, stern concepts. But the psalm shows us how God intends these virtues to interplay. Today, may be desperate to know the genuine truth, Truth himself.
In the Gospel, we find John the Baptist in prison, having been unjustly sentenced. I might imagine that out of his suffering, fear, trepidation, and uncertainty he dispatches his disciples to inquire of Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” In our fallen world, sometimes the kindness, peace, and truth of justice are not extended. Like John the Baptist, you, or someone you love, may have been unjustly treated. The Just One is present with us, and the gentleness of his justice is no less real for you. Jesus testifies, “. . . the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.” We are assured that our risen and living Savior, our Emmanuel, is present and at work in us, through us, and around us, regardless of our circumstance.
From our psalm, “Justice shall walk before him, and salvation, along the way of his steps.” Like St John of the Cross, let us today keep in step with the Just and Saving One, let us draw close to him so that our feet might follow him in paths of justice. St John of the Cross, pray for us!
Elizabeth Wells
PS For more about St. John of the Cross, check out our 8-Week Series "Living Flame of Love"