Searching for Justice

Once upon a time a man named

Martin Luther King Jr. made this comment:

"A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law."      — King 1963

Let me paraphrase.  "There is divine law, and there is sacred law.  When the two of them line up.  When all human law is consistent with divine law, we will have justice in the world.”

In short, when nothing exists in this world that could exist under the rule of the Sacred

We have the Kingdom of God.

We are a long, long way from that.

In this time when people, for the sake of money and power

Make laws that diminish and oppress

In this time when others simply ignore good laws, simply because they want to, and no one will hold them accountable

We need to grab hold of Martin Luther King’s vision.

King never did call people to grab hold of a philosophy, or an ideology

He asked them to grab hold of a dream

A dream of a world where Sacred law and human law matched

And were one

A world where “all God’s children” could live in peace, and justice, and love

When all those people gathered on the Mall in Washington DC, on that day so long ago

They did not come for Martin Luther King Jr.  They showed up, for themselves

Because they believed in his dream

They wanted his dream

For themselves, their county, their children

Their neighbors

It is time to grab hold of

And to fight for

That dream

We cannot let it die

_____________________________

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

    My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

    Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

    From every mountainside, let freedom ring!