“I will give thanks…I will tell of all your wonderful deeds”
Have you noticed how often people refer to God’s justice when the Lord has acted on their behalf, and like the psalmist they say, “you have maintained my just cause; you have sat on the throne giving righteous judgement.”?
That causes me to think about two things.
One. Challenging, difficult, or even terribly bad as it might be to have those who antagonise you and oppose your every move- those who might try to make your life a living hell; when you get justice you know where it comes from. So, there can be a positive side to having enemies; that is, if you have good judgments to be thankful for. Which brings me to the second thing.
Two. What about those who are unjustly treated 24/7? Or those who, after being wrongly accused, are sentenced for crimes they did not commit. And who might never get a second chance? Maybe the evil they endure might just turn them off. I say ‘might’ because we know well how many wrongfully convicted persons, especially persons of faith, or persons of colour who fit the stereotypical description of criminal, have refused to give in to hate. They insist on waiting for that “righteous judgement” however long it takes, even into the hereafter.
It pains me to know that justice is so often lacking, that some people just have to settle for injustice. While there are those who endure to the end without denying the image of God in which they were created, there are some who become even worse that their oppressors. Yes, I think it was Freire or some other Latin American philosopher who pointed out how the oppressed often succumb to the oppressor’s modus and become oppressors themselves. Yes, the evidence suggests that injustice can be effective in breeding injustice. Terror can create terrorists.
It’s a terrible thing to try evil ways to achieve any end. We are bound to discover, if we haven’t yet done so, that injustice might harm more people including the unjust, more so than the wrongfully convicted and righteously acquitted get to inspire righteousness. What a pity!
may we never forget that the Powerful Just One does not forget the cry of the afflicted”.