Seek justice, 'law of love,' for greatness in legal vocation

By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami

Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily during the annual Red Mass for members of the legal profession in Monroe County, which he celebrated at the Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea, in Key West, March 14, 2025.

We are, of course, in the Season of Lent but today we swap the violet vestments that evoke penance with red ones that evoke both the blood of martyrs and the fire of the Holy Spirit.

The Red Mass also recalls the memory and invokes the intercession of a remarkable Catholic lawyer, who proved to be a “Man for all Seasons,” Sir Thomas More. In the year 2000, St. John Paul II named St. Thomas More the patron of statesmen and politicians.

At that time, John Paul wrote this about Thomas More:

“His life teaches us that government is above all an exercise of virtue. Unwavering in this rigorous moral stance, this English statesman placed his own public activity at the service of the person, especially if that person was weak or poor; he dealt with social controversies with a superb sense of fairness; he was vigorously committed to favoring and defending the family; he supported the all-round education of the young. His profound detachment from honors and wealth, his serene and joyful humility, his balanced knowledge of human nature and of the vanity of success, his certainty of judgment rooted in faith: these all gave him that confident inner strength that sustained him in adversity and in the face of death. His sanctity shone forth in his martyrdom, but it had been prepared by an entire life of work devoted to God and neighbor.”

“Profound detachment,” “joyful humility,” “balanced knowledge of human nature,” “judgment rooted in faith,” “confident inner strength,” these are qualities that everyone, and not just lawyers and judges should aspire to.

Some people refer to the means through which they make their livelihood as “jobs”; you, however, are not just working at a job, you are responding to a calling, a vocation. The legal profession is a noble calling – one that calls for continual courage, vigilance and a dedicated commitment to the people you serve and to our system of justice.

The great achievement of the American people has been the attainment of liberty for its citizens through the rule of law. At its best, in our system of justice, the rights of the individual and proper respect for property ownership are protected from the grasp of the powerful and wealthy.

Your craft as lawyers and as officers of the court has as its foundation, its reason for being, the principle emblazoned on the façade of the Supreme Court building, “Equal justice under the law.”

Last Wednesday we began the Lenten Season, as we received ashes on our foreheads we heard the words, the first recorded words of Jesus in Gospel according to Mark: “Repent and believe the Gospel.”  We need to hear these words and to heed them.  For there is a worldliness that can harden our hearts, that can anesthetize our souls. If we cannot feel in our hearts, we will not see with our eyes the image and likeness of God in those that appear before us.

You know that old joke, a good lawyer knows the law, a great lawyer knows the judge.

We all come to this Red Mass to encounter through Word and Sacrament the one who is Lord and Judge of History – Jesus Christ. Knowing that judge – and seeking that all that we do, we do under his sight and in view of his perfect law of love – will help you not only to be good at what you do, but to be great at it, as officers of the court, as lawyers and judges.

A good lawyer, of course, will honor his oath and serve his client diligently; but a great lawyer will not be afraid to challenge injustice when he/she finds it and will not refuse to help those most vulnerable.

So, let me end by telling you a story.  This is a true story about a famous mayor of New York. You might have heard of him — there’s an airport named after him.

He would often serve as a judge at night court — and one night during the depths of the Great Depression, he presided over the court in one of the poorest precincts of the city. A poor old lady was brought before the court charged with stealing a loaf of bread. “Did you steal the bread,” he asked her. She admitted she had but explained that she lived with her daughter and her two grandkids, her son-in-law had deserted the family, and they had no money and nothing to eat. The mayor looked at the shopkeeper and asked him, given the circumstances, did he really want to press charges. The shopkeeper said that he felt sorry for her but it’s a bad neighborhood and the woman needed to be punished to set an example for everyone.

LaGuardia was in a dilemma — the law was the law but to punish this old woman would be a miscarriage of justice.

What would you do? The penalty was $10 or 10 days in jail. What did LaGuardia do? He took ten dollars out of his wallet and gave it to a bailiff to pay the fine.

Then he looked out at the crowded courtroom and fined everyone there 50 cents for living in a city in which a grandmother had to steal a loaf of bread to feed her grandchildren. He directed the bailiff to collect the fines and hand the money to the defendant. The total collected came to $47.50 including the 50 cents willingly paid by the shopkeeper.

Remember Pope St. John Paul descriptions of St. Thomas More: “Profound detachment,” “joyful humility,” “balanced knowledge of human nature,” “judgment rooted in faith,” “confident inner strength.”

St. Thomas More was not only a good lawyer, but he was also a great lawyer and because he knew the judge of heaven and earth, could say, “I am the King’s good servant but I am God’s servant first.” May you aspire to that same greatness – as individuals and as officers of the court.