During the middle of his short Presidency, John Kennedy decided to send nearly 10,000 American soldiers to South Vietnam.  Although there was a military conscription in place, the President did not use it, but sent men who were already in the Reserves or National Guard.  There was a great resistance and complaint from the soldiers and their families.  Many felt that they had already done enough service.  They said it was unfair.

Mr. Kennedy was asked about this at a press conference.  This was his answer:

“There is always inequity in life.  Some men are killed in a war and some men are wounded, and some men never leave the country, and some men are stationed in the Antarctic and some are stationed in San Francisco.  It’s very hard in military or in personal life to assure complete equality.  Life is unfair.”

If anyone knew about the unfairness of life, it would have been Kennedy.

Born into a wealthy family, educated in the finest schools, handsome, intelligent and likeable.  He was wounded during the Second World War and suffered every day of his life from intense pain.  Elected President, he was assassinated at the age of 46.

Life is unfair.  Certainly by our human standards.  We instinctively know what Justice is – or we think we do.  For example, if there is two siblings, aged 4 and 3 and the elder gets more ice cream than the younger, you can be sure to hear “that’s not fair.”

Or, if I have two students both take the same exam and get all the questions correct, but give one an A and another a B, you can be sure this would end up in the Vice-Principal’s office.

We have a system of justice in this country, symbolized by a scale which represents equal justice for all.  We all know that’s an ideal and not always right.  But we expect justice which borders on revenge.

We have a United States Department of Justice.  But we do not have a United States Department of Mercy.

We never think about that.  Yet, last summer in June, a young man killed 9 people in a church in South Carolina.  Shortly afterwards, relatives of the murdered victims were given an opportunity to speak directly to the killer of their loved ones.  In a rare and emotional event, each survivor told the killer that they forgave him.  This does not happen often in this country.

We want justice, we want revenge, and we want this mythical quality called “closure.”

Anyone who expects perfect justice in this world is living in a dream world.

There are those who think that God is the great dispenser of justice.  If, on earth all wrongs are not punished or all injustices are not made right, then God will judge us according to our system of justice.  We had all best hope that he does not.

Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has declared a rare Holy Year, beginning today.  It is called a Year of Mercy.

As the Pope has pointed out, mercy is the defining quality of God.  It is, in the Latin title of his document establishing the year of mercy:  the face of God.

During this coming year, he wants the entire church to think about and act upon mercy.

The first step in that journey is to personally accept that God has mercy on us, no matter what we have done.  Then, we are to show mercy to others – especially those we look down upon as if some people are less deserving than ourselves.

The Catholic Church is fond of making lists.  We have lists of sins, we have lists of angels, and we have a list of works of mercy.  We even divide the list of mercy into corporal and spiritual categories.  One is easier to do than the other.

Corporal works are kind deeds that everyone finds relatively easy:  to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, and so forth.  People are very generous in doing such deeds.  It’s more or less expected behavior.

But the spiritual works are much more difficult:  to encourage the doubtful, to comfort those in trouble, to forgive offenses, to bear wrongs patiently, and so forth.

That means we need to downgrade justice and upgrade mercy.

During our life on earth and at the end of our life, God is constantly trying to get us to see his face.  We usually don’t think of that because we are afraid and also we usually approach God as if he were Santa Claus who will give us what we ask for.

We are ambassadors of mercy.  Ambassadors represent governments; we represent God.

We need to show the world that we are as merciful to others as God is merciful to us.  It’s not easy, that’s why the Pope has given us an entire year to turn our thinking and actions around.

We do not deserve anything, nor do we get some kind of credit to do what we are expected to do.  To paraphrase St. Paul, if we give everything we have away and do not have mercy, we are empty shells.  By showing mercy, we get no credit, no reward, not even a thank you.

We are supposed to be merciful.  And, if God is all merciful – as he is – then mercy will be ours.  That is what will get us through life; not justice.

Having said all that, I have class later this morning and I can surely expect that my students are each going to ask me to give them an A on their semester grade.

We’ll see whether mercy or justice prevails.

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