The Lord Is a God of Justice

Oct. 26, 2025

The first reading for this Sunday begins, “The Lord is a God of justice, who knows no favorites. Though not unduly partial toward the weak, yet he hears the cry of the oppressed.” In our responsorial psalm (Psalm 34) we hear, “The Lord hears the cry of the poor.” And in our Gospel, Jesus says of the tax collector who confessed his sins and asked for mercy, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

When God looks at someone, he recognizes not only those who are materially poor, but also those who are spiritually poor. Remember the first of the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the Kingdom of God is theirs.”

The Lord is a God of justice. For many today, justice is a bad word. Their argument, whether they recognize it or not, is with God. If God is a God of justice, then you and I must be people of justice ourselves. As God hears the cry of the poor, so must we. We may be very limited in how we can respond to the cry of the poor, but we must listen and hear their cry, and we must CARE. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus makes it clear that the question is not, “Who is my neighbor?” but “To whom am I neighbor?”
   
As always, whenever we try to limit Christ’s call for us to love and care, He is having none of that. There are no limits. There are no boundaries.
—Fr. Mike Comer