Third Sunday of Ordinary Time: "This scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Lk. 1:21

 
In the Old Testament the fundamental attribute of God is justice. The Israelites called it God’s righteousness. Our sense of righteousness, that there is a right and wrong, is the hallmark of the Creator in each of us. It really doesn't depend on any human law. Atheist or believer, we are upset if we don’t think we are being treated fairly.  A child is angry when she believes the teacher treated her differently from the child in the next seat over. After the Second World War, the Allies tried Nazi war criminals in military tribunals for their “crimes against humanity.”  Nazi actions were lawful according to the statutes of the Third Reich. There was no international law code that created crimes against humanity or prohibited genocide. No tribunal was convened to try the Turks for the genocidal murders of Armenians a half-century before Nuremberg.  The Nuremberg trials were based on the “Nuremberg Principles” and the “Nuremberg Code,” sets of legal principles that were an advance in the notion of international law and imposed by the victorious Allies. The work of the Nuremberg Tribunals is now carried on by the International Criminal Court. These Nuremberg Principles were based on notions of justice that transcended the laws of the German Reich. Where did they come from? Our innate, if impaired, sense of justice!
 
The Old Testament and Justice
A community cannot exist without a sense of justice. In the first reading from Nehemiah, Ezra the priest is reading the Torah to the Jews who have returned to Babylon. He reads the Law before the Temple or the Walls of Jerusalem are built. The Law is what binds a people in common life, a Temple and Walls must follow. Whether it is the laws of keeping Kosher or stop signs, spiritual or secular laws, a community cannot survive without a common code. Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Daoists and atheists all have laws. The Law creates a community discipline.
 
Paul and the Law
Paul describes the body of Christ. Every part of the body is essential to the proper functioning of the body. Paul’s image of Church as body helps consider why we are concerned for the most vulnerable members of the body. When part of the body is weak, we favor it.  If I have an infected thumbnail, I help it to heal. To the extent we don’t, we undermine the health of the whole body.  When we are tempted to ignore the weak, we undermine the health of the community.  The body of Christ is more than an economic or political reality.
 
Jesus and Justice
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus began his public ministry by opening the Isaiah scroll in his local synagogue and reading,

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
 to bring glad tidings to the poor.
 He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
 and recovery of sight to the blind,
 to let the oppressed, go free,
 and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
 Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him….
 He said to them,
 "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." Lk. 1:1-21

The words spoken by Jesus are to be fulfilled in our hearing. Because we are disciples, we are to act justly to each other and be concerned with justice in the society in which we live. We are supposed to allow justice to enter into our world.  Justice is more than the laws we make for ourselves, just as the example of Nazi Germany should remind us. Justice has to comport with fair and just treatment of all, including the least members of our community and our neighbors. 

Justice, Law and Party Politics
The justice that Christ speaks of is not limited to a political party. It is the justice that the abolitionists relied on when challenging the laws and Constitutional provisions allowing slavery. It is the justice the Catholic Church spoke of when the labor movement was confronting laissez faire capitalism. It is the justice that Martin Luther King, Jr. referred to when he led the civil rights march. It is the justice of the pro-life movement challenging the power of Roe vs. Wade. There is a justice that judges the laws of nations. We recognized that when our country took the lead in the Nuremberg trials. We lose our way when we lose our connection with Divine Justice. 

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Social Justice and the Catholic Church

Most of us have been raised to believe that we have right to possess whatever comes to us honestly, either through our own work or through legitimate inheritance. No matter how large that wealth might be, it's ours as long as we didn't cheat anyone along the way. By and large, this belief has been enshrined in the laws of democratic countries and we generally believe that it is morally sanctioned by the Christianity. Partly this is all true, but it needs a lot of qualification. From scripture, through Jesus, through the social teachings of the churches, through papal encyclicals from Leo XIII through John Paul II, the right to private ownership and private wealth is mitigated by a number of moral principles
 
• God intended the earth and everything in it for the sake of all human beings. Thus, in justice, created goods should flow fairly to all. All other rights are subordinated to this principle. (Gaudium et Spes 69; Popularum Progressio 22) We do have a right to private ownership and no one may ever deny us of this right (Rerum Novarum 3­5, 14, Quadregesima Anno 44­56, Mater et Magistra 109) but that right is subordinated to the common good, to the fact that goods are intended for everyone. (Laborem Exercens 14) Wealth and possessions must be understood as ours to steward rather than to possess absolutely. (Rerum Novarum 18­19)

• No person (or nation) may have a surplus if others do not have the basic necessities. (Rerum Novarum 19; Quadregesimo Anno 50­51, Mater et Magistra 119­121 & 157­165; Popularum Progressio 230) Thus, no one may appropriate surplus goods solely for his own private use when others lack the bare necessities for life. (Popularum Progressio 23) People are obliged to come to the relief of the poor and if a person is in extreme necessity he has the right to take from the riches of others what he needs. (Gaudium et Spes 69)

• The present economic situation in the world must be redressed. (Popularum Progressio 6,26,32; Gaudium et Spes 66; Octogesimus Adveniens 43; Sollectitudo Rei Socialis 43) Thus the law of supply and demand, free enterprise, competition, the profit motive, and the private ownership of the means of production may not be given complete free reign. They are not absolute rights and are only good within certain limits. (Popularum Progressio 26; Quadragesimo Anno 88, 110)
• In regards to the private ownership of industry and the means of production, two extremes are to be avoided: Unbridled capitalism on the one hand, and complete socialism on the other. (Quadregesimo Anno 46, 55, 111­126)

• Governments must respect the principle of subsidiarity and intervene only when necessary. (Rerum Novarum 28­29; Quadragesimo Anno 79­80; Mater et Magistra 117­152) However when the common good demands it they not only may step in; they are obliged to do so. (Popularum Progressio 24, 33; Mater et Magistra 53; Gaudium et Spes 71) As well certain forms of property should be reserved for the state since they carry with them an opportunity of domination too great to be left to private individuals. (Quadragesimo Anno 114; Mater et Magistra 116)

• Governments may never sacrifice the individual to the collectivity because the individual is prior to civil society and society must be directed towards him or her. (Mater et Magistra 109; Quadragesimo Anno, 26)

• Employers must pay wages which allow the worker to live in a "reasonable and frugal comfort" (Rerum Novarum 34) and wages may not simply be a question of what contract a worker will accept. Conversely, workers may not claim that the produce and profits which are not required to repair and replace invested capital belong by right to them (Quadragesimo Anno 55, 114) and they must negotiate their wages with the common good in mind. (Quadragesimo Anno 119; Mater et Magistra 112) As is the case with the employer, it is not just a question of what kind of contract can be extracted.

• Both the workers and the employers have an equal duty to be concerned for the common good. (Laborem Exercens 20)

•  The condemnation of injustice is part of the ministry of evangelization and is an integral aspect of the Church's prophetic role. (Sollectitudo Rei Socialis 42)
As quoted from, “ In Exile
 Third Sunday of Ordinary Time C, January 27, 2019, Ron Rolheiser