One of the important things we believe as Catholics is the honoring of God on the Sabbath. Granted this comes to us through our Jewish heritage and all Christians are called, by the Third Commandment, to make special effort to keep holy this day of prayer and family.
Some of my earliest memories were of the family gathering around the breakfast table after Sunday morning Mass and sharing this feast of a meal as one family. It was a day when we would often visit my dad’s Mom, Grandma Mary, and see many cousins spending the day in play and family activity. I don’t think that during those wonderful days of memory I was thinking about how these activities “honored” the Lord’s Day and kept holy this Sunday sabbath. I can, looking back, see how it developed and honored the joy and peace of the family.
What does this have to do with justice? One of the definitions of justice includes, “a genuine respect for others/people.” I believe this is what occurs when we keep holy and honor the day of where family and relationship comes as the first and foremost action of the day.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, in his book “Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times” tells us, “The Sabbath is one way of setting limits to the market and its mindset, focusing on the dimension of time. There are other ways, too: values such as loyalty that are not sacrificed to the pursuit of profit; aspects of happiness that derive not from what we earn or own or buy but from what we contribute toward to the lives of others; and gratitude for what we have rather than yearning for what we do not have.” (p. 114)
Rabbi Sacks reminds us of the importance of remembering that human life, human dignity and human relationships are not based on an economic foundation only but rather on an inherent goodness of who we are created in God’s image.
St. Joseph in following keeping the sabbath showed forth this model of justice in his care for and respect of his wife, Our Blessed Mother, and Jesus. Stepping back for the work of the carpenter to spend a day of prayer, rest and family activity is a sign of directing his actions, as we should direct ours, to the growth in holiness in following God’s commandments. Justice reminds us to order our lives not for the simple use of God’s creation but to be good stewards in caring for others. Archbishop M. de Langalerie reminds us of when we order our lives on seeking God’s justice we follow St. Joseph’s example, “An honest man may be guided solely by the uncertain light of reason; and he may be governed by a conscience that is perhaps influenced by public opinion. A just man, on the contrary, is directed by the Word of God, by the will of God, as clearly demonstrated in the church, and he relies on the assistance of grace for the accomplishment of the divine will in himself.” (p. 23)
If we return to my example of Sunday when I was a young boy in the late 60’s and early 70’s we see what it meant by being governed by the Word and will of God. In truth, my family, like many families, bowed to the pressure of the world and while our Sunday obligation remained constant and our visiting and sharing family meals continued, we also began to scatter and “do our own thing” as my siblings grew into teenagers and began leaving home. The public opinion wasn’t some national pressure but rather that of peer groups and the seemingly more “fun” activities outside of family.
I know St. Joseph didn’t have the same pressures or distractions we do as twenty-first century people, but he did live in a time and place where the Roman rulers did not recognize the “Sabbath” and he endured, with Mary, pressure to conform to a invasive culture, while different, were as pervasive as we see today.
Understanding justice as something beyond the juridical, as a virtue of relationship, invites us to spend time with and walk with those around us. I always think of Pope St. Paul VI quote, “If you want peace, work for justice.” This great pope understood the foundation of all relationships was one of seeking justice through knowing and caring for the other. St. Joseph did this over and over again first within the Holy Family then moving out into the world.
We are reminded to strive for the goodness, the holiness in which we are made…to strive to be a just person and not to take the easier way of vice and sin.
“(St. Joseph) was just – – just always, in all things, and towards all persons. Can we render a like testimony of ourselves? Is there not some one virtue, the practice of which we entirely neglected? We frequently declare our natural bent of character as an excuse for the defects over which we should watch with the greatest care, on account of there having become to us a second nature.” (p. 24)
May we seek the courage to be just in growing in the true peace of Jesus Christ.
God bless
Fr. Mark