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Mons. Dr. Peter Wolf Mons. Dr. Meter Wolf Mons. Dr. Peter Wolf Fotos: POS Fischer © 2006 |
Beloved brothers and sisters,
We have gathered today on the occasion of the feast day of the Blessed Mother. She is very much alive in our souls through the reflection in today’s Gospel, and for the modern representation of the Annunciation that we have before us. It is a wonderful feast, it is the beginning of our redemption. Through the Angel, God erupts in the life of Mary. And today, this afternoon, we want to hear the joyful mysteries of the Rosary with Her, from the hour of the Annunciation until the finding of Jesus in the temple of Jerusalem, belonging to his Father, to God.
At the same time, we want to accept the invitation of our Bishop and to pray during this hour of the Rosary for the next "Journey of German Catholics", that this year will take place in our diocese with the great motto: "Justice in the Eyes of God". It seems that is almost demanding too much, and it distracts us from the beautiful and well known mystery of the feast today.
When we hear talk about justice we quickly think about the laws, the justice we lay down among ourselves. We think about the tribunals and on the processes where there is someone who is struggling for his rights and he hopes that justice will be done. Perhaps others think about the strikes that are presently taking place in Germany and in France calling for just wages, or against what they consider is unjust. The biblical words are always translated as "justice" do not come however from the world of laws or of politics, nor is it the language of jurists or politicians.
In the Old Testament and in biblical thinking, it is a fundamental word. "Justice" is a gift, it is redemptive gift of God. This is what the biblical texts of the liturgy of the temple refer to, and it is the message of the prophets. God is "just" and he wants man to also be just. In Sacred Scripture, to say that a man is just is the greatest praise that he can be given. For example, it says that Saint Joseph, the betrothed of Mary, is a "just man".
The biblical expression "justice" signifies to "reciprocate"; concretely it refers to living our relationships as they deserve. He who is "just" lives fully and like a given relationship deserves, be it a relationship of father, of spouse, of child, or employee, of brother, of ally…a just mother is one who is truly just with her child, or a father who is also just with his child. God is just, according to the testimony of the prophets, because He treats Israel as it deserves relative to the Covenant that he has sealed with his people.
I believe that we could learn much from this point of view in our society and in our politics, and of this biblical understanding of justice. And the Journey of Catholics should help us do so. The main thing is not the legal or legislative effort to distribute everything equally and of treating everyone the same way. According to the biblical concept, this "justice" could be the most unjust. The principle is not: "to give the same to all", rather, "what each one deserves". The basic thing is to see, how the relationship with the persons whom we love is reciprocated and how we should live. This begins with family relationships and with mutual commitment. It continues in the sphere of school, of work, and of society.
Here it is also necessary to have a relationship and a life that is reciprocal to the mutual commitment that has been established. Students and teachers, students and professors are mutually related, they cannot not simply be indifferent with each one going his way, they should respect each other and value each other mutually, because without this, they do not act reciprocally. The workers and the businessmen have a relationship that commits them mutually, and in this relationship the worker cannot be moved and disposed of as an anonymous mass simply for reasons of gain. The generations have an irrevocable mutual relationship and they are mutually responsible forever.
Based on these basic ideas about justice and how to make them mutually "reciprocal", we again direct our gaze to the hour of the Annunciation, the feast that we are celebrating today, and then we will meditate on the Rosary. In the Annunciation the mutual relationship between God and man is fundamental. The infinite and transcendent God erupts in the figure of the Archangel Gabriel, in the small world of man, in the house of the Mary, the Virgin of Nazareth. But Mary does not die of fright, since the messenger of God greets her and first of all firmly tells her: "the Lord is with you". She is in his grace, she is before him as an "associate" of the Covenant, because He wanted it that way, because he considered the Covenant as a reality. The Covenant is the main thing in this intimate community.
That is why, throughout the thousands of years, Christian art has represented an erect Mary, standing in front of the messenger of God, who is also standing. As Sacred Scripture tells us, Mary has a total openness before the message of the Angel. She wants to respond to that which is manifested to her from God at this moment in the manner it deserves. "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word". This is the profound and dignified response, that this relationship of being called, and to be full of grace by the gift and divine predilection deserves. Her words of consent do not transform her into a slave of God without her own will. The biblical words "Handmaid of the Lord" expresses being fully disposed, but at the same time it is a title of honor of those who called "Servants of God" that corresponds to Moses or the great prophets. It is always about reciprocating according to the conditions and to the relationships. In this way man preserves his dignity, even when he knows he is dependent.
Let us all pray, this afternoon, for the Journey of the German Catholics of our diocese, that we may say something about justice in the eyes of God in the midst of our modern and complex society. In the most profound sense it is about the message of the mutual Covenant of Love as a basis of our social reality.
Translation: Celina Garza, Harlingen, TX, USA/Christi Jentz, Milwaukee, USA