Seek ye First His Kingdom and His Justice

Ever since the reformation we've seen a large increase in the misunderstanding of God's Justice and Mercy; or rather, we have forgotten Justice. This has caused a rift within The Church and its given rise to some rather troublesome ideas; mainly ‘unconditional’ forgiveness.

In Martin Luther’s discussion on “The Power to Forgive Sins on Earth” he says “I can say to my brother, who is stuck in sin, “Be cheerful and comforted, my brother, because your sins have been forgiven… if you believe it, you have it.”” The very end of this problematic statement describes the core of the issue at hand: the thought that God's forgiveness is unconditional or that there requires no external act of the will on our end so long as we believe we are forgiven, and that this same thing applies to how we forgive others.

Luckily though we have Christ's own words to remind us that God is not only merciful but just as He says in Luke 12:31 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice..”

Repentance as a requirement

One of the sacraments Christ left to His Church is one known by many names: penance, conversion, confession, forgiveness, reconciliation. The purpose is to be forgiven of the sins you have committed.

The Church teaches that Christ's faithful go through two conversions during their lives. The first and principle conversion is Baptism and the second conversion which is more of a lifelong task, Repentance. The Catechism teaches that “St. Peter's conversion after he had denied his master three times bears witness to this. Jesus' look of infinite mercy drew tears of repentance from Peter and, after the Lord's resurrection, a threefold affirmation of love for him.” (CCC1429)

Peter's repentance was a reorientation of his life to conform with his love of Christ and he proved this by then performing actions, of virtue, that were contrary to the sins he repented of. So too should our repentance follow this. We must convert our hearts to God and truly resolve to avoid sin and evil, especially that of which we asked for forgiveness.

Justice in mercy

To truly obtain forgiveness through God’s Mercy we must show our sorrow for our sins. But not just sorrow, through the sacrament of reconciliation we should seek justice as much as we seek mercy.

St. Thomas Aquinas defines justice as this; “Justice is a habit whereby a man renders to each one his due by a constant and perpetual will.” (ST II-II,Q58,A1) So what is due to us for sin? For crimes against God that is seen as our temporal punishment and even punishments such as penance. But in as much as Justice is a virtue (meaning it is to be cultivated here on Earth) and in the context of sin, what is our due to our fellow man and theirs to us?

Well, simply put, we must follow in the footsteps of St. Peter and all the other Apostles and disciples of Christ. We must show true sorrow, through our actions, to those we affect through our sin. There is a due proportion for our actions and we must accept our punishment. We must have a heart of conversion and seek reconciliation not only with God but with our fellow man. 

Justice and Mercy go hand in hand. They are not contrary to each other and we must know as much. Seeking justice due to the actions of others is the loving thing to do.