10 Vol. LIX, No. 1 Magnificat us: Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice... In the Gospel, justice is synonymous with holiness. The Gospel says of Saint Joseph that he was a just man, meaning that he was holy. Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all the rest will be given you besides.9 Wanting to establish the kingdom of God on earth and working to sanctify yourself go together, they cannot be separated. The rest will be given you besides. Things are going badly in the world, and there seems to be no solution. God is taking care of it. There will be hard times, and frankly, worse than you think. Do not be preoccupied with it. Do not be troubled over it. Jesus says to us: Seek the kingdom of God and His justice, holiness. The rest will take care of itself. Jesus also said: Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall be satisfied.10 I repeat, justice is holiness. The Virgin Mary sings in Her canticle of the Magnificat: He fills the hungry with good things.11 Are you hungry? Do you 9. St. Matthew 6:33. 10. St. Matthew 5:6. 11. St. Luke 1:53. really want what God expects of you, yet find yourself too cowardly to do violence to yourself and accomplish what is costly to your nature? He fills the hungry with good things. Develop that hunger, that thirst. Suffer over it! O blessed suffering! O beautiful, O good suffering! In the Gospel, we read the story of Zaccheus.12 Having heard about Jesus, he wants to see Him. Being short in stature, he climbs a tree. He separates himself from the crowd. He only wants to see Jesus. God had put this desire in him. That is how He begins His work in us. But we have to follow this attraction that God puts in our heart, in our soul. Little Zaccheus makes the effort to climb, which is more difficult for short legs. He separates himself from everyone else. He isolates himself, as it were, to see Jesus better, to contemplate Him better, to be more attentive. He makes an effort, he does violence to himself because he wants to see Jesus, to know Him. When Jesus passes, He looks up at Zaccheus. Seeing this man’s sincere desire, He forgets all about the crowd 12. St. Luke 19:1-10. A man named Zaccheus, a leading Publican and a rich man, was trying to see Jesus to know who He was. But he could not, on account of the crowd, because he was of small stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to observe Him well, for Jesus was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him: “Zaccheus, come down quickly! It is in your house that I am stopping today.” He made haste and came down and welcomed the Lord joyfully. St. Luke 19:2-6 O.D.M. painting
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