FASTER: SLOW JUSTICE IS NO JUSTICE

Catholic Homily/Sunday Reflection

29^th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

October 17, 2010

Reflection on Lk 18:1-8

I came across the poster of the new movie of Dwayne Johnson entitled FASTER: SLOW JUSTICE IS NO JUSTICE. This movie is perhaps where he puts the Law into his hands. Hands that throw hard punches against the bad guys in order to put things back in order. Sometimes, I wish I could do the same. I wish I could make Justice run faster.

In my humble experience in the practice of law, I could say that the wheel of justice runs relatively slow. This is partly because there are few Judges and plenty of cases clogging the dockets.

If it is a high profile case, involving famous and powerful people, with all the media coverage, the judge may give it some special attention. But if the case involves insignificant people, justice is slower.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus actually tells us that DIVINE JUSTICE IS FASTER.

For us to understand this, Jesus relates God to be like that of a Judge.

A judge, whose impiety made him no fear of God and because of his power,  no respect for man. 

In gist, God in the parable is a stone cold judge who could not be influenced by power or money.

Then this judge happens to have in his docket of cases, the case of the widow.

The widow is hard pressed in her case because her opponent is rich and powerful. She asks the judge to render a JUST DECISION for her against her adversary.

The case of the widow is the least of the concern of the judge. She is insignificant and does not deserve to receive special attention, especially since there are other cases that are far more important things for the judge to attend. So the judge pretends not to notice her, but she continues to come to him everyday to appeal to him.

Then the judge realizes that if he will not attend to her concern- if he will not render a JUST DECISION on her case, she will continue to bother him and eventually will destroy his reputation that will continue to haunt him for the rest of his life.

So the judge, a person who is not influenced by power or money, immediately attends to the concern of the insignificant widow and renders a just decision on her case.

This is in essence Divine Justice. It is delivered to us FASTER because God attends to our case no matter how insignificant we are. Some of our prayers before God are petty, childish and even confusing, yet GOD listens to us and renders a JUST DECISION based on what is good for us at that moment. It may not be the answers that we have been looking for but we can trust that it is a JUST DECISION.

DIVINE JUSTICE IS FASTER because SLOW JUSTICE IS NO JUSTICE AT ALL.

The Journey to Healing

A reflection on today’s Gospel, Oct. 9, 2010
 http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/luke/luke17.htm#v11

Today’s Gospel, which is according to St. Luke, tells the story of Jesus healing the ten (10 ) lepers.

St. Luke, is a Physician by profession. It is said that he is actually Greek and not Jew. I do not know if St. Luke was really there when Jesus was approached by the lepers, because it is said that a big part of his writing where based on his research rather than his personal knowledge. At this point it time, I find the symbolism in the Gospel more important than the accuracy of the facts.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus was on a journey. He was travelling to Jerusalem probably symbolizing the last part of his ministry.

When Jesus entered a certain village, he was approached by ten lepers who asked for mercy. The lepers were outcasts and could not enter the walls of Jerusalem. Leprosy at the time of Jesus was not only a dreadful disease but was considered a type of sin.

Perhaps the symbolism here is that at a certain point in our lives, we have become like leapers- rejected from the love of our families, work and society. But the Gospel tells us that despite being in such a sorry state, Jesus comes to us giving us the opportunity to ask for his mercy.

St. Luke, despite being a physician did not state how Jesus cured the lepers. Instead, he narrates that Jesus told the lepers to show themselves to the Priests- a requirement of the law to declare that a leper has been cured so that he/she can re-enter society. If this would have happened in the present day, Jesus would have told them to present themselves to a Dermatologist who could give a medical finding that indeed the were cured of the leprosy. 

Luke did not say whether all of the lepers were healed at the same time, only that they proceeded to the present themselves to the priest and were cleansed.  Perhaps the Gospel is telling us that, when we ask for Jesus to heal us, he does not heal us immediately even if he can. He tells us to have faith and to proceed to present ourselves to the priests who will eventually declare us to be healed. Some may have been healed on the early part of the journey, like the Samaritan, others could have been healed half -way, and others may take a longer time. The healing happens on the way.  But rest assured, everyone gets healed and the healing happens on the way.

One of the lepers, a Samaritan, saw that he was healed, turned back and gave glory to God. The symbolism of the Samaritan means that Jesus heals everyone who asks for his mercy. Why did the Samaritan turn back? Was it not Jesus' instruction to present himself to the priest? Perhaps because the law of the Jews does not apply to him because after all he was a foreigner. Perhaps he did not need the verification of the priest to declare him to be healed. We do not need to be declared to be a good Christian before we begin acting like one.

Then Jesus told him “ Stand up and GO, your faith has saved you.”Jesus gave the Samaritan another gift. He did not only cure him physically but spiritually as well. He gave him salvation. 

Our nation is sick, not of leprosy, but of over population, corruption- the list goes on.

The laws that have been passed are not perfect. Obviously, the RH Bill is not the perfect solution to address population control regardless of the critics coming from the Church. The government cannot afford to supply these contraceptives (ethical or not) to all the poor and to the persons responsible in making our country over populated.

We cannot rely on ourselves to solve this problem. No matter how confident we are in solving the problem or how brilliant we are in proposing an ethical solution. We are all sinners. Sin is the great equalizer and we are all equal in the eyes of God.

Bearing this in mind, we should still be as desperate like the lepers in asking for God's grace and mercy with all our hearts. God's mercy is given to those who asks for it.

But it is not enough TO ASK FOR GOD'S MERCY with all our hearts. Like the Samaritan, we should  also learn to GIVE THANKS and TO PRAISE GOD in a loud voice, TO PRAISE HIM WITH ALL OUR STRENGTH. This is in essence what the Gospels tells us.

Jesus has healed the ten lepers, but only one of them came back and gave thanks. To the ten, Jesus only gave cured them physically, but for the one who came back and gave thanks, Jesus also cured him spiritually, he saved him.

Have a pleasant day and God Bless Us all.

Enough Faith to Forgive

This coming Sunday's Gospel starts with an excerpt of Chapter 17 in the Gospel according to St. Luke, where the apostles tell Jesus "Increase our faith." Why did the apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith? 

If we read the entire chapter, this was the response of the Apostles to Jesus when he told them to forgive their brother every time he asks forgiveness. 


Sometimes it is impossible to forgive, especially if you have been wrongfully accused and crucified in media of having done things of which you never did. It is impossible to forgive if after you have given forgiveness, the person shows no remorse but does the same offense or even does worst.

So did Jesus increase their faith? He did not.

Forgiveness may seem to be a leap of faith, but Jesus figuratively tells us that even if we have so little faith, such as the size of a mustard seed, we can do the impossible -such as asking a mulberry tree to plant itself in the sea. We do not need to have so much faith in order to forgive.

Our society is governed by laws of reward and punishment. This is often times our interpretation of justice, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. As Shylock the Jew ( in the Merchant of Venice) would have said, "if you (Christians) prick us, do we not bleed, if you (Christians) wrong us, do we not revenge?" Justice should be served.

But again the Gospel tells us that as Christians, we should do more than what is expected. We should do more than what we are obliged to do. If we do exactly what Shylock has said, then what difference does it make to be Christian. 

Seeking Justice should still be made, but as Christians, seeking justice should not prevent us from forgiving. It is not enough to do what the law requires.This is what I think Jesus meant when he said that "we are unprofitable servants, we do what we are obliged to do. 


Justice should not prevent us from forgiving, which is an exercise of our faith. Having faith is not a question of having too much or having too little, to do something great or impossible. The message of the Gospel is not about having enough faith. The Gospel is telling us that having faith is enough when it comes to forgiveness.