I have written about justice and mercy before, but I think it bears repeating because we live in a world that promotes false or selective mercy and justice.

A controversial topic

Let’s take the subject of immigration, for example–a controversial topic to be sure. The recent “special message” released on November 12th from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) rightly points out the Catholic social teaching that every country has a right to regulate its borders and control immigration. It also has a duty to defend its citizens from threats.

Actually, this is really the primary role of every government body: to defend the rights of its citizens–especially the most vulnerable populations.

This cannot be disputed, simply because it is not only grounded in the principles of the Natural Law of self-defense but also common sense. Why do we lock the doors of our homes? To offer some level of protection for ourselves and the most vulnerable members of our families.

An important truth

In their message, however, the Bishop’s Conference leaves out an important truth: The vast majority of people entering illegally through our borders are either fugitives, repeat criminals, drug lords, or “mules” carrying drugs into our country. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), “In President Trump’s first 100 days, 70% of ICE arrests were criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges.”

The crux of the matter

This brings us to the crux of the matter: Is it merciful or just to allow “open borders” in any country?

A DHS report in June of 2025 showed approximately 300,000 unaccompanied undocumented children entering the United States through the southern border during the Biden Administration were unaccounted for.

As of July of this year, the Trump Administration had located and rescued 13,000 of them. The majority had been trafficked, exploited for money, and sexually abused. What a terrible reality and a travesty of justice.

The true victims

We have heard public outcry by the Bishops Conference and the media about illegal immigrants being deported, but they have remained silent regarding these missing children and the dozens of victims of violence committed by illegal immigrants.

One must ask himself: Why?

More importantly, who are the true victims suffering from this great injustice and lack of mercy?

The missing children and the victims of violence.

Mercy does not discriminate

Unlike the false mercy that applies only to illegal immigrants, true mercy does not discriminate and comes to the aid of the most vulnerable whether they are American citizens or not.

And true justice demands protection for all victims of violence and abuse.

Know mercy, know justice

St. Thomas Aquinas said there can be no mercy without justice (Super Evangelium Saint Matthaeum, Cap. V, l. 2.).

Put more plainly, true mercy always satisfies justice.

Honesty is the best policy

But true justice presumes honesty, which acknowledges that an evil has been committed against a person or a group of people in the first place.

Without first acknowledging a wrong, we cannot have justice or mercy.

And let’s face it: in our culture, we have not only lost forbearance, we have lost honesty.

Honesty rests on the “bedrock” of objective morality, which has been buried under thick layers of the “manure” of situational ethics (invented by Joseph Fletcher in the 1960’s), modernism (advanced by Friedrich Nietzsche), the Sexual Revolution (based on Sigmund Freud’s subjective reality of drives and instincts), and extreme individualism (proposed by Ayn Rand and others).

What do all these philosophers have in common? They were all self-proclaimed atheists and profoundly miserable. (Nietzsche was later committed to a mental institution and died a madman.)

Lies: a form of injustice

All of the above philosophies are lies about the dignity of the human person and therefore, an affront to God.

Mercy cannot exist in the presence of lies because lies are a form of injustice.

Somewhere underneath it all, the bedrock of objective morality remains, embodied within the Ten Commandments. Like God, its principles can never change with the times.

We need only to acknowledge them and live them out to lead truly just lives.

Divine mercy

True mercy has its origins in the divine. It is also a strictly Christian principle. No other religion or philosophy can “manufacture” authentic mercy without Jesus Christ.

Jesus told St. Faustina Kowalska, “Tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy” (Diary 699).

That is why, as societies get further away from Christianity, they become more violent and barbaric and eventually, completely disappear from the face of the earth.

Only Christianity can rebuild civilizations from the ashes that flourish on the foundation of Divine Mercy.

Jesus also warned Faustina that spreading His message of Divine Mercy “is a sign for the end times; after it will come the day of justice” (Diary 848).

Jesus came into the world out of mercy for our broken humanity. At His Second Coming, it will be to fulfill divine justice in a final act of Divine Mercy. He will wipe away every tear from our eyes (Rev 21:4) and right every wrong that was committed throughout human history.

He will even allow us to see all the injustices committed and how they played into God’s divine plan for the salvation of the world (Matt 25:32).

Justice embodied within mercy

The prophet Malachi gives us fantastic imagery describing Jesus’ return in glory:

The day is coming now, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and the evil-doers will be like stubble. The day that is coming is going to burn them up, says the Lord of Hosts, leaving them neither root nor stalk. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will shine out with healing in its rays.

(3:19-20)

This is justice embodied within mercy. The two are united in God Himself and are operational together.

In the end, God gives us what we want. What we have rejected, God does not force upon us in the hereafter. This is the great justice of God’s gift of free choice.

For some of us, His presence will be the like the scorching sun; we will be unable to even lift our eyes without crouching down in pain. For others who love God and neighbor, its rays will be like an all-encompassing embrace of warmth and love.

This too, is justice embodied within mercy–a path that only we can determine that will someday lead to our forever home.

“Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to stand with confidence before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36).