(Transcript from a homily given at the Novena of Grace, St Ignatius Church, Portland, Oregon. Spring 2019)

Justice and Peace. One cannot exist without the other, and the call of Love governs them both. We live in a world, and we pray in a Church, that is in need of the guidance of the Spirit to live the commandment to love God with our whole heart, and to love each other as we love God, as the way to achieve peace and justice.

Jesus’ response to the Pharisees is wise, in both what is said and what is left unsaid. He is asked why he would sit down with those judged as unworthy? He tells those asking that he has done so, sat with the unworthy, precisely because they are sinners; those at the table, including his disciples, are not the righteous, but are those in need of repentance. As the Pharisees absorbed this answer, they must have reflected on their own relationship with Jesus, on the fact that he has also spent time seated at the table with them. Could it be that they too are sinners, that they too are in need of healing? That those whom Jesus invites to the table are those he came to serve and to love and to save?

“This is the imperative, to work relentlessly in love, to repair what has been broken, for ourselves and for others, in love. ”

It must have caught them up short (thinking that their judgement of the taxpayers was just) to know that they too were sinners, they too needed healing. Could it also have been comforting to them, if they allowed themselves to see that Jesus offered them, and the tax collectors and the disciples and all sinners, an unconditional love and forgiveness that would lead to peace?

Judging is something we all do, often without even realizing it. We judge others and we judge ourselves, often harshly. We make up stories in our heads about other people, almost instantaneously, especially if they are different from us in any number of ways: economically, socially, or in race, color, religion, or sexual orientation. We make assumptions. We do this often out of fear, fear of fully knowing others, fear of being fully known by others, because we believe that if others knew of our brokenness and our inadequacy, they would see us as less worthy.

And so, what are we to do to follow love? In the words of Marianne Williamson, “In every moment we must make a decision to open our hearts and send love, withholding judgement and freeing ourselves from fear. There is a feeling of inner peace that comes from a total relinquishment of judgement.”

We are all worthy, we are all bound together through our connection with the Eternal, the unconditional love of God. When we acknowledge that in each other, we have found the path to healing and to peace.

But what of justice? What are we to do when faced with what we know to be wrong: oppression and exploitation and corruption? What are we to do when we come face-to-face with the knowledge that people, organizations or institutions that we hold dear, that we have faith in, that we love, have faltered, have failed to be good stewards, have broken the promise of love and fidelity and compassion? Are we still to open our hearts and withhold judgement, are we still to recognize our connection of love? Yes. But that is not all we are called to do. We are called to seek the truth, in love, and to hold ourselves, and others, accountable, in love.

This is a very hard thing to do, to act out of love, when anger and judgement are often our first response to injustice. But it does not lessen our resolve to support those who have suffered, to do so out of love. It does not lessen our effectiveness, to do everything in our power to help those who are victims, when we do so out of love.

And, there is much we can do in love; we can advocate, we can protest, we can support, we can give of our time and our treasure and our talent to right wrongs and speak the truth. Otherwise, all would be lost. If we walk away from love, if we act from anger and fear and self-righteousness, we are walking away from the only true path to justice and to peace, the path that goes through love. This is not an easy path, in fact, it asks of us the highest measure of faith, the faith that our salvation and that of the world is grounded in love.

How much easier it would be to walk away in anger from people and institutions that have betrayed their sacred trust, to walk away from a friend who has deceived us, a spouse or partner who has been unfaithful, a Church that has not protected the most vulnerable? How much harder is it for us to open our hearts, to look at both the good and the evil of that which we love, to look it directly in the eye and see the truth: the truth of what is still good, still salvageable, still grounded in love; and the truth of what is broken and betrayed and heartbreaking.

The hard ground of this path is what we are called to walk together in our lives. This is the imperative, to work relentlessly in love, to repair what has been broken, for ourselves and for others, in love. This is the call of Eternal love, this is the call of justice and this is the only path to peace.

I am comforted in these times by the words of Teilhard de Chardin:

“Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”

I am praying for you and for your intentions, in love.