Prison Awareness Sunday

First reading: Wis. 11:22–12:2

Before the LORD the whole universe is as a grain from a balance or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth. But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook people’s sins that they may repent. For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned. And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you? But you spare all things, because they are yours, O LORD and lover of souls, for your imperishable spirit is in all things! Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little, warn them and remind them of the sins they are committing, that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O LORD!

Second reading: 2 Thes. 1:11–2:2

Brothers and sisters: We always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith, that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.

We ask you, brothers and sisters, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling with him, not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly, or to be alarmed either by a “spirit,” or by an oral statement, or by a letter allegedly from us to the effect that the day of the Lord is at hand.

Gospel: Lk. 19:1–10

At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”

In other words 

Fr. Randy Flores, SVD (Sacred Heart Parish Shrine, Kamuning, Quezon City)

Today is Prison Awareness Sunday. Sacred Heart Parish Shrine has a long history of pastoral involvement with the Quezon City Jail. We call it the Restorative Justice Ministry (RJM), and we regard the “offenders” there not as “bilanggo” (prisoners) but as Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDL).

The Book of Wisdom (first reading) incidentally has something to sa about “offenders.” God rebukes them but “little by little.” Permit me then to comment on the first reading instead of the Gospel.

The first reading belongs to the section on what is known as the Digression on Mercy. The author, let us call him the Sage, digresses from what he is discussing to ruminate on the mercy of God.

Because of the crimes that the Canaanites committed against Israel, God should have right away punished (death penalty) these criminals. But God spared the lives of Israel’s enemies instead because “they are human beings” and that God cares for everyone and “loves all things that he has made” (cf. 11:24).

God has the power to vanquish the wicked “at one blow” by “one decisive word,” but he preferred not to do that. He did judge the offenders but “little by little” (kat’ oligon in Greek). The reason for the gradual punishment is to give them a chance to repent (metanoia) even if their wickedness was “implanted,” and their “way of thinking would never change.” It is “to remind of the sins the are committing” so that they will have a chance to abandon their wickedness.

Because God is powerful, he can be “lenient to all,” and so God judges with “clemency” (epieikeia), “great forbearance,” and “measured deliberation” (22a).

Moderation (or sophrosyne) is a virtue (arete) of one who is a philanthropos (cf. Wis. 8:7, see also Philo, “On Sobriety”). God is the best example of one who possesses philantropia, but humans must imitate him.

The Sage closes this section by saying that when human beings judge others, they must have God’s goodness in mind so that when God judges them in turn, they can expect mercy.

Restorative justice is a modern concept, and the sages in the Bible had it against the pervading practice of the death penalty.