7 March. Justice and the Death penalty.  SEE. Andrew was part of the Catholic Students’ society at university. He shared, “We have been discussing the rights and wrongs of the death penalty, of prisons and pardons.  I used the example of the woman Lisa Montgomery, who was executed in the US on January 13, 2021, the last woman to be executed under president Donald Trump in his first term.  He did not agree to granting her clemency or pardon. Admittedly she had committed a very serious crime, killing a pregnant woman and cutting out her baby, but her own life story was equally horrific. She had been constantly raped, abused and beaten from childhood and throughout her life until she could hardly be considered capable of right judgement. Trump in this term, has pardoned a number of people, some friends and accomplices in political plans. Manipulation of the law in South Africa has been witnessed constantly during the Madlanga Commission, and State Capture has not been properly resolved. Where is true justice and when should it be tempered with mercy, as is possibly in the case with granting parole?”    

JUDGE, reflect and share. Scripture: Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy. Micah 7:14-20. Pope Francis: The arguments against the death penalty are numerous and well-known.  All Christians and people of good will are today called to work not only for the abolition of the death penalty, legal or illegal, in all its forms, but also to work for the improvement of prison conditions, out of respect for the human dignity of persons. A life sentence is a secret death penalty.  FT 268.  Pope Leo:  The peace of the risen Jesus is unarmed, because his was an unarmed struggle in the midst of concrete historical, political and social circumstances. Christians must together bear prophetic witness to this novelty, mindful of the tragedies in which they have too often been complicit. The great parable of the Last Judgment invites all Christians to act with mercy in this awareness (cf. Mt 25:31-46).  Message of Peace 1 Jan.   Christians don’t have enemies, only brothers and sisters. 

ST FRANCIS. From CARE FOR CREATION. St Francis valued and protected all God’s creatures and all forms of life, living or non-living, recognizing their rights and seeing them all as symbols of God’s life and love. His biographer writes, “When he washed his hands he chose a place where the water wouldn’t be trampled underfoot.  When he walked over rocks he walked with reverence out of love for Him who is called, ‘The Rock’.” St Francis had himself been a prisoner-of-war for a year and experienced harsh conditions at the time.     

REFLECT-SHARE-ACT-PRAY. How can our family act in protecting justice in society? Should we march and demonstrate about acts of injustice and exploitation of the law in society in line with the Laudato Si environmental goal of community participation?  How else can we support true justice?.