The Mystery of Divine Justice Made Flesh

Divine Appeal Reflection - 240

Today, consider in Divine Appeal 240: "Divine Justice is such a difficult enterprise that only Myself who was made man and victim for sinners has been able to put it into practice: First with the Sacrifice of the Cross and then with the one of the Altar for the continuous renewal of what I fulfilled on Calvary."

There is a quiet terror in the idea of Divine Justice—not because it is cruel, but because it is perfect. Human justice weighs evidence, debates causes, and often fails; Divine Justice penetrates the heart, sees every hidden fault, and demands a love as pure as God's own holiness. God’s justice is not content with condemning the guilty; it longs to restore the broken. In Divine Appeal 240, our Adorable Jesus unveils the profound truth that only He, the Eternal Word made flesh, could satisfy the demands of perfect justice. Human beings, bound by sin and weakness, could not lift themselves back to divine friendship. Only God Himself, stooping low in the Incarnation, could pay the debt that love and truth demanded.

Justice, by its nature, renders to each what is due. But when man sinned, the debt owed to God was infinite because the offense was against Infinite Goodness. No created being could bridge that gap. Saint Anselm, in his work Cur Deus Homo, explained that only God could make the payment, and only man ought to. Thus, in Jesus Christ—true God and true man—the impossible became possible. The Cross was not a divine act of vengeance; it was the supreme act of solidarity. Christ, innocent and all-holy, entered the depths of human guilt and bore its weight, not to accuse but to heal (cf. Isaiah 53:5; CCC 615). Divine Justice was fulfilled not by punishing humanity, but by Love offering itself in place of the guilty.

This is why Christ’s Sacrifice had to endure beyond Calvary. Divine Justice, once fulfilled in history, is continually offered in mystery through the Sacrifice of the Altar. The Eucharist is not a repetition of the Cross but its living presence among us. Saint Thomas Aquinas taught that the Mass is the same offering as the Cross, differing only in manner: bloody then, unbloody now. At every Mass, Christ stretches out His glorified wounds before the Father, a perpetual intercession for sinners (cf. Hebrews 9:24). In this way, Divine Justice remains active—not to destroy but to save, not to demand more suffering but to offer endless mercy.

Divine Justice, in Christ, is not about punishing man but about transforming him. It is the fire that burns away sin, the love that pays what we owed yet could not give. Every altar becomes a new Mount Calvary, where heaven touches earth and the Lamb of God renews His saving gift. To stand before this mystery is to encounter a Justice so severe that only Mercy could bear it—and so tender that even the greatest sinner is invited to kneel without fear. The Mass is the threshold where time touches eternity, where Calvary stands open, and where the justice that once seemed terrifying now becomes our greatest hope. Our Adorable Jesus, both Judge and Redeemer, does not cease to reach for the sinner, offering the fruit of His Sacrifice to all who dare to trust in His mercy. Divine Justice, fulfilled by Christ, is no longer a closed door—it is an open Heart, bleeding and burning with love.

Prayer:

O Adorable Jesus, Victim of Divine Love, draw every soul to the fountain of Your mercy. May the power of Your Sacrifice heal our wounds, renew our hope, and teach us to trust Divine Justice as perfect love. Stretch out Your hand, raise the fallen, and make us living offerings to the Father. Amen.

Sr. Anna Ali of the Most Holy Eucharist, intercede for us.