The Gazette 1980

232 / 270

GAZETTE DECEMBER 1980
'If, beyond legal rules, there is really no deeper
feeling of respect for and service to others, then
even equality before the law can serve as an alibi for
flagrant discrimination, continued exploitation and
actual contempt'.
"We see the Justice of God as the goal of our actions
when we realise that justice is not the concern of the legal
profession alone. The Eucharist is always an act of the
whole Christian community. Our celebration today is a
sign that your work is a service to all of us, and that it is a
work in which we are all involved. It is a work which is
gravely hampered if members of the community see
themselves as uninvolved spectators in the administration
of justice. The formal opening of the Law Year is a
reminder to all citizens of their responsibilities.
'There is no point in a person complaining that prison
fails to rehabilitate prisoners if he or she would not be
willing to give an ex-prisoner a chance to make a new
start; there is no point in a person complaining that some
parents fail to control their children if he or she is not
ready to do something to support and encourage families
who find it difficult to cope; there is no point in a person
complaining about the growth of violence if he or she is
violent in word or attitude, indulging in 'selective
indignation, sly insinuations, the manipulation of
information, the systematic discrediting of opponents' —
all of these, as the Pope has said, are attitudes 'capable of
fostering the murderous game of violence'; there is no
point in a person complaining about the threat to law and
order which arises from the frustration of the young
unemployed if he or she is content to see the maintenance
of their own standard of living take precedence over the
preservation and creation of jobs. For all of us, not just
the groups represented here, and in every aspect of our
lives, the Justice of God is the goal to which we are called
and which we must approach together. Justice is a task
for all of us.
"We see the Justice of God as the goal of our actions,
finally, when we are aware that God's Justice must, in the
end, be brought about by him not by us. Our respect for
the dignity of others, our generosity, our sense of
common purpose are taken up by his power into a new
creation. Justice is something for which we must not only
work but for which we must pray. That is, in fact, what
we have come to do. We pray in this Mass that, in the
coming year, in our work as members of the legal
profession in Ireland and in our lives as citizens, we may
foster that human dignity, community and freedom which
we hope to find again, illuminated and transfigured in
God's kingdom of justice and love. At the same time, we
renew our resolve that our work and our lives will make
us ready to stand before the judgment seat of Christ
knowing that the amount we measure out will be the
amount we will be given back".
Your
money
or your
lunch!
That's the choice a lot of Ireland's banks
give you at lunchtime: settle down and enjoy
your lunch in a leisurely manner - or gobble it
up in half an hour or so then dash into the bank
on the way back to work.
But not us.
At Anglo-Irish Bank, we believe in opening
our doors when it suits you — not when it suits
us.
So we open at 10.00 am and stay open till
5.00 pm; giving you seven hours a day to drop in
and see us, an average of two and a half
hours a day more than you-know-who and
you-know-who.
And working wonders for the digestion.
ANGLO IRISH BANK
35, St. Stephens Green, Dublin 2. Tel: 01-763502
22, William Street Limerick. Tel: 061-49522.
WéVe smaller,that'sall.
R. W. RADLEY
, C.Chem., M.R.I.C.
HANDWRITING AND
DOCUMENT EXAMINER
220, Elgar Road, Reading, Berkshire, England.
Telephone (0734) 81977
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