He had in acting as He has done; in a word, on that day He will cause all presumptuous blasphemers to wonder at the justice and holiness of those decrees that they looked on as unjust. He will cause all the angels of heaven, all men on earth, all the demons in hell to cry out with David: “Thou art just, O Lord, and Thy judgment is right.”[1] “Thy testimonies are justice forever;”[2] all Thy decrees are and always have been just; Thou couldst not have governed the world wiser, better, or with more equity than Thou hast done; formerly many things that we could not understand seemed to us inconsistent and wrong, nay, unjust and scandalous; but now we acknowledge their holiness and justice. “Thou art just, O Lord!”
We must defer gratifying our curiosity on this point Now while we are on earth God speaks to us, as Our Lord did to Peter at the Last Supper, when that apostle, surprised at the humility of his Master, refused to allow Him to wash his feet: “And Peter saith to Him: Lord, dost Thou wash my feet? Jesus answered, and said to him: What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter,”[3] and thou shalt know what good reason I have for acting in such a way. This is what St. Paul writes to the Corinthians: “Therefore judge not before the time, until the Lord come,” before forming an opinion on what you see; wait till the coming of the Lord at the end of the world, “who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.”[4] Mark the words “bring to light the hidden things of darkness;” that is, as Cajetan says, He will make clear what is now dark. Then you will understand why the Prophet Malachy, speaking of Christ as our future Judge, calls Him the Sun of justice: “Unto you that fear My name the Sun of justice shall arise.”[5] How so? Will the Judge come like the sun? You know, my dear brethren, what occurs at sunrise. While night lasts one cannot distinguish one thing from another, nor tell what is white or black, green or red; for the darkness takes the color away from things and hides it from our eyes; but when the sun rises at the break of day we can easily distinguish objects as they appear in their own colors. So shall it be also with the Sun of justice;
- ↑ Justus es, Domine, et rectum judicium tuum.—Ps. cxviii. 137.
- ↑ Æquitas testimonia tua in æternum.—Ibid. 144.
- ↑ Dicit ei Petrus: Domine, tu mihi lavas pedes? Respondit Jesus, et dixit ei: quod ego facio, tu nescis modo, scies autem postea.—John xiii. 6, 7.
- ↑ Itaque nolite ante tempus judicare, quoadusque veniat Dominus, qui et illuminabit abscondita tenebrarum, et manifestabit consilia cordium.—I. Cor. iv. 5.
- ↑ Orietur vobis timentibus nomen meum sol justitiæ.—Malach. iv. 2.
