REWARDED WITH JUSTICE

By + GAUDENCIO B. ROSALES, D.D.
Archbishop of Manila

(Homily delivered at the Thanksgiving Eucharist on the occasion of the birthday and retirement of the Honorable Chief Justice of the Supreme Court HILARIO DAVIDE, on December 16, 2005.)

At the eve of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Yahweh tarried in Abraham’s presence and revealed the impending destruction of the twin cities mired in corruption, sin and impurity. “Will you really destroy the upright and the guilty?” Abraham asked God. "Suppose there were fifty upright people in the city?”…”No!” …“Suppose there are forty?”…“No!” …“Suppose there are thirty?”…Thus the bargaining between God and Abraham and the search for an honest person began, until not a single honest one was found and the two great cities of corruption and sin were lost. (Genesis 18:22-32).

The search must always be for what is just, to look for what is righteous; these are the encouraging steps towards goodness. But there is a culture, however, that reverses the order and it strives to look for what is evil, hunt for what is wrong and begin the march to progress from there. Its proper result is not only destruction but despair.

Even in the darkest of nights a single spark reveals the briefest sight of a darkened image; the faintest of dawn ushers the hope of a breaking sunrise. This was where God began after the fall of the first humans. Centuries by centuries as the world continued to be enveloped in sin, criminality and violence, God saw still a spark of goodness in the humans He created. He remembered that He made them to His own image and likeness. They could not all be bad; they sinned but they could recover. And so He sent His only Son because He loved humans so much that He wanted them to accept and to believe in Jesus, His Son, that they might not perish but may have life eternal. (John 3:16).

There are still just people and with the advent of Jesus Christ there should be more. But even in the Old Testament the formula for life has always been enclosed in the uprightness of every person. “If the man is just, his actions law-abiding and upright … keeps my laws and sincerely respects my judgment—someone like this is truly upright and will live—declares the Lord Yahweh” (Ezekiel 18:5-9).

But alas in today’s culture, rather than to appreciate and encourage the rise of more upright men, the practice is to destroy the few that there are. (Is the

Day’s custom peppered with malice or is it sheer wanting to be selfish?) This was the fateful experience of our honoree today. Was it the great Poet who said “To silence envious tongue: be just and fear not. Let all the ends thou aim’st at be they country’s thy God’s and truth’s”. (Shakespeare, Henry VIII).

The just man’s greatest defense is uprightness itself. Every person who has remained faithful to what is true, loyal to what is good, and above all, true to his God, need not fear anyone or anything for having been faithful to the Almighty. The righteous are incapable of harm and being harmed; it is virtue itself that accuses and condemns the wicked for the memory of its own wrongdoing. However, the man who has no God is to be feared and to be shunned. For as the Sacred Book says, “With their mouths the godless would destroy their neighbors, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered” (Proverbs 11:9). And this God is not the God of the mouth and the God of the words, (Luke 6:46), but the God who is believed in and proclaimed in deeds (Psalm 78:35-37).

Uprightness is not earned in a day nor by any promotion; uprightness is achieved in one’s lifetime and through one’s conduct and way of life. There is no election to uprightness; a person chooses to be upright and just, and then, and only then, can the Good Lord choose to partner with such a person to promote and to spread righteousness among others.

Every now and then, as the years pass (by) to become history, God allows persons of integrity to go by our midst to serve, to listen and to inspire. And as happens many times too, the very presence of people of integrity—mentioning nothing of their words—reminds, teaches and even condemns. Upright people may be criticized, cut to pieces, not because of their personal commitment to righteousness, but precisely because righteousness itself is attacked as the critical (and selfish) issues.

The experience is not foreign to the countless episodes, including that of our Lord Jesus Christ, mentioned in the Good Book.

Today as we celebrate this Eucharist in thanksgiving for and in recalling the graces that have gifted the life of one such man, remembering the path ofhis public service as the country’s Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, we join HILARIO DAVIDE, his family, his colleagues in the highest court, and his friends, thanking a most appreciative and loving God for the service that has been rendered to the country in moments of tranquility and even in time of great disturbance that bordered disaster and great disquiet.

Let me end this reflection with you by quoting from the words of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta: “When you judge people, you will have no time to love them.”

Justice belongs to God because He is the only One who is truly and completely just. And, therefore, I am not going to take away from the good Lord the glory of rewarding you, Honorable Chief Justice Hilario Davide, for the uprightness with which you have lived your life and for having served the people well. But I want you to know that those of us who truly know you, as a person, including your family and roots, (we) leave your reward in the hands of God, but we thank and love you for the way you have lived and served!

We, your friends, today have the distinct honor to call you Brother!

Your honor, thank you.

And may the good and loving God continue to bless you.