Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

New DeSales World Newsletter - Summer Edition

Baptism of the Lord (January 11, 2003)

Suggested Emphasis

"I the Lord have called you for the victory of justice."

"Those of any nation who…act uprightly are acceptable to God."

Salesian Perspective

The account of Jesus' baptism ends with the sound of a voice from heaven, saying "This is my beloved son. My favor rests on him."

Why does God's favor rest upon Jesus? Because Jesus is Son of Justice. Jesus measures by God's standards in giving others their due.

Isaiah tells us that God has called us, like Christ, "for the victory of justice" and, in the Acts of the Apostles, to "act uprightly." In everyday terms, what does it mean to work for God's justice, to act uprightly?

Consider the opposite of acting justly and uprightly: "We condemn every little thing in our neighbor and excuse ourselves of important things. We want to sell very high but to buy at bargain prices. We demand that the right thing be done in another's house but that mercy and generosity be granted to ours. We like to have things that we say taken in good part but we are tender and touchy about what others say." (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 36). At its heart, injustice is about living a double standard, measuring the world with two weights: one to weigh everything to one's own advantage, and another to weigh everything to the disadvantage of others.

What makes our acts of injustice so difficult to identify is that they are seldom big; rather, they are frequent and small, easy to overlook. Writes St. Francis de Sales: "Self love can lead us and direct us into countless small yet dangerous acts of injustice and iniquity. Because they are little we are not on guard against them and because there are many of them they are sure to cause us - and others - great injury."

Francis de Sales writes that just and upright people are, in short, reasonable people. They do not live a double standard. They are people of integrity. They follow the Golden Rule, treating others as they themselves would wish to be treated, not expecting of others that which they themselves refuse to practice. Just and upright people measure the world using only one weight: the love of God. "Be just and reasonable in your neighbor's place and your neighbor in yours," says St. Francis. "Live a generous, noble, courteous, royal, just and reasonable heart." (Ibid)

To the extent that we do this with one another each and every day, we grow as the "beloved sons and daughters of God." God's favor will rest on - and dwell in - us to the extent that we share our God-given favor with others.

Michael S. Murray, OSFS, is Executive Director of the De Sales Spirituality Center at Childs, MD.