I am sitting at this moment in a place where I would rather not be. I am in the Hudson County Courthouse. No, I am not on trial. I have been called to jury duty—Grand Jury to be exact. Yes, it is a civic duty. But it is, for any busy person, an inconvenience at the least, a burden at the worst.

But it is a task that justice requires. And if I, a priest, were to try to “get off,” I may succeed. But how then do I preach to other people about our obligations to the society?

To be around the justice system is a study in human nature. Probably the ordinary citizen would expect to encounter “law and order” situations where men and women involved in crime duel it out with prosecuting attorneys.

Unfortunately, at least for me, the justice system is an ongoing testament to original sin. Rarely do I see true evil, that is, the cold, hard, calculating type of crime that stems from a satanic soul. Rather, the system is more like a parade of pathetic human beings caught up in childish breaches of the law.

Any teacher—at least at the high school level—will recognize the types of people that pass through the courthouse. They are the “bad boys and girls” in class who never learned and never grew up.

For example, in domestic court there are all sorts of young females, usually with very small children in tow, who have become involved with bullies who became their abusive husbands or boyfriends. These men feel that they “own” their women and so they can mistreat them with impunity. Court-issued restraining orders are a part of their lives.

Then there are divorce courts where grown up men and women argue like children over alimony and custody of children. The judge becomes the arbitrator between people pointing fingers at each other like children before the principal.

In the landlord-tenant court, you will find greedy landlords trying to evict tenants or to get more money out of them. You will also find bad tenants who wreck a property and often don’t pay the rent. That particular court is a penance for any judge. But again it is always a case of somebody trying to put something over on someone else for personal gain.

In the Grand Jury, the jurors only have to decide whether a case should go to trail. Of the cases presented 95 percent are open and shut. Foolish guys do things they are not supposed to do. They play “cops and robbers” with young police officers and they end up getting caught in the system.

On petit juries where there are actual trials, mendacity is a staple of life. With some witnesses you can tell if they’re lying because their lips are moving. They are no different than little boys who are caught with their hands in the cookie jar. They are terrible at twisting the truth.

The sad part of all this is that irresponsible people cost the rest of the citizens a fortune in taxes. When enforcement, adjudication and imprisonment are all added up, the cost of their nonsense is staggering.

In my ears I hear Isaiah: “Justice, justice shall then pursue.” I also hear Puck: “What fools these mortals be.” I also think of Our Lord hanging on a cross for these same foolish mortals. It would take a Divine Creator to believe that we humans are worth all of His suffering. But that is what makes God, God—His Divine Compassion—even for rather wayward people.

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