MERCY AND JUSTICE

From a merely human perspective it would appear that mercy and justice are opposed to each other. It would seem that, in some situations, one must choose one or the other. To Pope St. John Paul II, however, this is not an acceptable option for the Christian. On the first Sunday of Advent in 1980 the Holy Father promulgated the second encyclical of his pontificate, with the Latin title Dives in misericordia (“Full of Mercy”). In it he writes, “Mercy differs from justice, but it is not in opposition to it.” He quotes the Book of Wisdom, which affirms that God does not hate anything which he has made. These words reveal “the profound basis of the relationship between justice and mercy in God” (cf. Wis 10:11).

The pope refers to mercy as love’s second name. To believe in the love of God is to believe in mercy. Mercy is “the specific manner in which love is revealed and effected vis-à-vis the reality of the evil that is in the world.” Divine love is expressed by God’s work of mercy, above all by his work of redemption through the Passion of his Son. In a most eminent and powerful way, mercy and justice meet in Christ’s act of self-giving on the Cross. For this reason, mercy and justice cannot be opposed to each other. In fact, mercy accomplishes justice, for it “restores to value, promotes and draws good from all the forms of evil existing in the world and in man.” Think how unjust it was for the Son of God to be nailed to a Cross. The injustice, however, is turned on itself, for by an evil act righteousness becomes possible for every human being; through their union with Christ their humanity is redeemed and restored. In fact, because of the sending of the Holy Spirit, made possible by Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension into heaven, human dignity is lifted up beyond its originally perfect condition. Divine Mercy draws good fruit even out of evil acts.

That which had been distorted in its original meaning – for God created everything good – by the mercy of God receives new value and worth in the saving work of Christ. The requirements of justice are fulfilled by the Redemption. Consider this excerpt from Dives in misericordia:

Indeed, this Redemption is the ultimate and definitive revelation of the holiness of God, who is the absolute fullness of perfection: fullness of justice and of love, since justice is based on love, flows from it and tends towards it. In the passion and death of Christ - in the fact that the Father did not spare His own Son, but "for our sake made him sin” (2 Cor 5:21) - absolute justice is expressed, for Christ undergoes the passion and cross because of the sins of humanity. This constitutes even a "superabundance" of justice, for the sins of man are "compensated for" by the sacrifice of the Man-God. Nevertheless, this justice, which is properly justice "to God's measure," springs completely from love: from the love of the Father and of the Son, and completely bears fruit in love. Precisely for this reason the divine justice revealed in the cross of Christ is "to God's measure," because it springs from love and is accomplished in love, producing fruits of salvation. The divine dimension of redemption is put into effect not only by bringing justice to bear upon sin, but also by restoring to love that creative power in man thanks also which he once more has access to the fullness of life and holiness that come from God. In this way, redemption involves the revelation of mercy in its fullness.

To understand what the Holy Father is saying requires a spiritual way of thinking. As St. Paul taught the Christians in Corinth: “Now the natural person does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it, because it is judged spiritually” (1 Cor 2:14). We are called to think according “to the measure of God.”

Because of the corruption introduced into the world by sin and Satan, both justice and mercy must exist in their full integrity for either one to achieve God’s measure. In other words, for them to achieve their transcendental purpose as it exists in the mind of God. Thanks be to God mercy is more powerful than evil or sin. By the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus, the creative love of God makes new creations out of fallen humanity. “For whoever is in Christ is a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17). Divine Mercy both forgives and justifies.