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Catholic Virtues
God’s Justice and Judas - Part II
Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
For us to understand how the justice of God had to act against Judas, let us imagine something different than what really happened. Let us imagine that after Our Lord pronounced the Consumatum est, His last words immediately before His death, Judas would have appeared dressed in festive apparel, drunk, a crown of flowers on his head, coming from some tavern of that time.
Judas betrays Our Lord for 30 coins |
Approaching the Sacred Body of Our Lord in that state of drunkenness, he would have laughed and mocked Him, saying: “Look at the difference between us: He died on the Cross! I - who betrayed Him – am now having a lot of fun! And for this good time, I only spent two of my silver coins! I still have 28! Ha, ha, ha!”
Now, let us imagine that in such scenario St. Mary Magdalene and St. John would have said: “Judas, please come join us. Even as bad as you are, you are still our brother! Let us continue to love one another.”
If such a scene were to have taken place, the actions of those saints would be as abominable as that of Judas. This would express what could have happened if God’s justice were not present.
Why is this scene so repellent? Because it pictures those who truly loved Our Lord as also loving His traitor. That such loves could exist simultaneously is absurd and repulsive. This is what mercy would be without justice. It would become something monstrous, an accomplice of evil.
This type of mercy would be an aggression against the good. God’s justice requires a punishment, because justice is needed to give consistency to the good.
This is not just a theoretical situation. We live surrounded by people who only have pity for those who are evil: “Poor man, he stole.” “Poor woman, she sinned against chastity.” “Poor murderer, he did not realize what he was doing.”
Every possible excuse is offered to elicit pity and affection for every bad person in the name of mercy. The only ones these people do not have pity on are those like us, who analyze such wrongdoings made in the name of mercy. To us they will say: “I hate you, you intransigent man!”
This is the caricature of mercy that has been systematically promoted by the Revolution.
The balance between justice and mercy
What is the perfect point of equilibrium for one to say: “Now the time of mercy is over and we have entered the time of God’s justice”?
We can compare the relations between God and man to something like a trolling line. Each man has a certain potential of capacities and gifts that he has to develop. God helps him to be faithful to His plan in that development. Many times, however, the person is unfaithful but God has mercy on him and calls him back to take up the process where it was left off.
But at a certain moment, the trolling line runs out and the process reaches its conclusion. God ends his life. If he was faithful, he receives a reward; if he rejected God’s calls, he gets an eternal punishment.
David, in the background right, sends Uriah to death |
In King David's life in the Old Testament, we can see how the mercy and justice of God acted differently in accordance with the fidelity of David. He was a man who followed the plan of Providence in many regards. However, when he sinned by committing adultery with the wife of Uriah, a general, sending him on an impossible military mission to be killed, God showed His justice. He sent the Prophet Nathan to him, who pointed out his sin with all severity and demanded penance.
As a consequence we have the beautiful seven penitential psalms of David. God forgave him and continued to bless him. Nonetheless, God punished David by allowing his son Absalom to rebel against him, and He forbade him to build the Temple for the glory of God.
Something like this happens in the life of every man. The actions of a man show whether he is trying to be faithful to God’s plan or is complacent with evil. Insofar as a man is no longer concerned with pleasing God in all things and begins to be complicit with evil, we should take our distance from him. We should do this primarily for the glory of God, but also to defend ourselves, to not allow ourselves to be contaminated by those evil viruses.
Thus, even though we should pray for the person to abandon his bad life - this is mercy - we should dig a moat around him to prevent that evil from spreading - this is justice.
If that person leaves the realm of a mere sinner to become an enemy of the Catholic cause, we should consider him our personal enemy as well, and take proportionate measures to silence him and defeat him before public opinion. This is justice.
Reign of Mary and tolerance
Because of what the Conciliar Revolution has done in the name of mercy toward false religions and the modern world, I believe that the Reign of Mary has to shine in the opposite way. This does not mean that we should show no mercy, but it means that we should never use mercy as a pretext to be complicit with heresies and evil.
An extremely keen vigilance must be present to avoid any tolerance whatsoever with evil. The Reign of Mary may last a long time if the men who make it are vigilant against this revolutionary mercy. It will deteriorate very quickly if, after its inauguration, the same spirit of tolerance will be reborn.
This lecture was translated from the
transcript of a tape and adapted by A.S. Guimarães
Posted March 31, 2010
Related Topics of Interest
God’s Justice and Judas - Part I
Our Lord Taken Prisoner
The Love of the Cross in Today’s Life
How Should We Follow the Passion of the Catholic Church?
The Seven Last Words on the Cross
Expiatory Suffering in Creation and Redemption
The Suffering of Being Rejected
La Macarena, Our Hope - Holy Week in Seville
Related Works of Interest
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