Wednesday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 493

Hear, O kings, and understand; you magistrates of the earth's expanse.... 
Because authority was given you by the Lord and sovereignty by the Most High, who shall probe your works and scrutinize your counsels.
Because, though you were ministers of his kingdom, you judged not rightly,
and did not keep the law, nor walk according to the will of God,
Terribly and swiftly shall he come against you, 
because judgment is stern for the exalted. 
For the lowly may be pardoned out of mercy but the mighty shall be mightily put to the test.

As an American ex-president anxiously awaits his several trial dates, the Church reminds the world -- today's readings are heard in all Catholic churches and in many languages throughout the world -- that president, senators, congresspersons, dictators, kings, and queens are also judged by God. And are held to a stricter standard. As the Lord said, 

"Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more." Luke 12:48

Every schoolchild should remember the year 1215 when the English King John reluctantly signed the Magna Carta. He agreed to share power with Parliament, and to be subject to the Law. Five centuries later, unhappy with the English history of government by kings, the authors of the American Constitution went further. Their leaders would be elected and would serve for a limited term.  They would be judged periodically by the electorate and could be dismissed. 

I wonder if those same authors of the Constitution considered that the people -- the electorate -- when they accept the responsibility of a democracy, are also under judgement. The nation that is for, and of, and by the people is nonetheless subject to the law of God, and faces serious consequences should it violate God's standards. His wrath might go well beyond that imposed upon a single demagogue. 

This Enlightened idea of democracy is borne of Saint Paul's belief that, "...the holy ones will judge the world." The English word noble expresses that belief for the nobility are supposed to govern with virtue. When the electorate assumes responsibility for self-government, they must also aspire to holiness, mercy, and justice. 

Saint Paul scolded his Corinthian disciples for failing to govern their own community, and reminded them that they would judge the world. He was invoking an ancient belief of Israel. The entire world must finally come to Jerusalem to be ruled by the LORD. They would eagerly study the Law which God has given to the descendants of Abraham. Any gentile who would be an heir of Abraham, and would practice his faith in God, should also demonstrate the nobility of God with both justice and mercy. 

Any nation claiming to be Christian and to govern itself with democratic laws should expect God's mercy if it governs with mercy for the least among us, and with strict justice for the privileged. But if it fails to do either, it should expect all the plagues of Egypt and the curses of Deuteronomy. 

I believe it was Theodore Dreiser, in his novel Sister Carrie, who remarked that Americans are taught the value of money but are not told of its responsibility. The nation that consumes a disproportionate share of the earth's resources should be reminded often, 

"Terribly and swiftly shall he come against you, because judgment is stern for the exalted. For the lowly may be pardoned out of mercy but the mighty shall be mightily put to the test." Wisdom 6:5