Daily Thought For January 4, 2016

God's Justice & Mercy

GOD'S JUSTICE REQUIRES that he give the creatures whose nature he himself endowed with intelligence all that is needed by them to fulfill the God-imposed demands, and to achieve the God-assigned aims. Also, his justice requires that, in case they fulfill those demands, a proper reward be given and, in the event of their slighting and setting aside God's demands, a proper punishment be meted out to them. 

However, God is not only the Maker and Lord but he is also man's Father and best friend. Therefore, between God and ourselves there exist not only relations that are based on justice, but also those relations which are proper to God's fatherhood and friendship towards man; they reach much deeper because they are based on love. Love as the bond of family life ... regulates sharing [all goods] not according to the measure of strict justice but according to the measure of mutual love of parents and children. 

We should apply those fundamental notions also to our relations with God .... The essence of justice consists in giving that which is strictly due; but the essence of mercy is to take into account not only that which is strictly due, but also weaknesses, infirmities, and defects of all kinds, and in considering them, to give more than is required by merit and to punish less for offenses than the guilt deserves. 

Servant of God Father Hyacinth Woroniecki, O.P.
(from the Magnificat Year of Mercy Companion p.39)


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