Veritas, April 2024 Edition: Restitution
RESTITUTION
Restitution is the means whereby what was taken away, destroyed, damaged, or broken is restored. Restitution can be to a person or a place that has been deprived.
Let us begin with nature. Currently in the world there is much talk about restoring nature that has been depleted, destroyed, polluted, and exploited by humans. Plans are underway in some countries to “clean” their air, water, and environment. One way they plan to do this is to stop the production of cars and machines that use crude oil products with the by-product of carbon monoxide, and to manufacture cars and other machines that can be powered by solar, batteries and bio-degradable that do not pollute the environment. Two other forms of restitution to nature include (a) dredging of rivers to accommodate the waters from the drainage of our cities built in forest regions, and (b) manuring or adding fertilizers to the earth to replenish the natural nutrients from farming.
When we intentionally or unintentionally damage the properties of other persons, restitution demands that we replace them. Thus, broken chairs and windows/louvers should be replaced. Hitting another person’s car requires your fixing the car as restitution. To say “I am sorry” for damages done is good, but it does not satisfy the demands of restitution. “I am sorry” does not restore the damage done. However, if the offended accepts the “I am sorry” from the offender for damages done to him or to his or her goods, and allows the offender to go free, then the offended has taken upon himself the task of carrying out the restitution due to him or her.
Some damages or destruction are monumental or severe, hence people call for family meetings, landlord and landladies meetings, set up panels or committees, or go to court to address the problem and get a suitable restitution. When judgments are given by constituted authorities from the local government to the state or the supreme court, such judgments serve as restitution for cases that require restoration. In the case of the thieves that were crucified with Jesus Christ on the cross, their death sentence was a restitution for their crime or sin of stealing (Lk 23: 35 – 43; Jn 19: 32 – 34). One of the thieves did not accept his crucifixion as restitution and demanded that Jesus should save Himself and save them. The other thief accepted his crucifixion as restitution and accepted Jesus Christ as the Messiah; hence, he requested that Jesus should remember him when He gets into His kingdom. Since he accepted his crucifixion (as prescribed by the state) as restitution for his stealing, and he believed in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, he made himself wealthy of God’s kingdom procured through the passion and death of Jesus Christ on the cross. So, accepting one’s punishment for the sins committed, or moral weakness displayed is a sure way to do restitution.
Now, Jesus Christ did not commit any crime, and did not deserve the death sentence on the cross. He had all the opportunity to escape being arrested and unlawfully prosecuted. He had all the wisdom and eloquence to defend Himself. But He neither ran away nor defended Himself. He surrendered willingly to the process that led to His crucifixion. The Scriptures and Sacred Tradition teaches that Christ’s coming as man (incarnation), His passion and death on the cross, and His resurrection were all willed by Jesus Christ, according to the will of the Father in union with the Holy Spirit who is the Lord and the giver of life. Thus, the death of Jesus Christ was a restitution for the sin of disobedience of Adam, and a restitution that was willingly accepted in place of Adam who represented humanity.
At this juncture, we can understand restitution from two perspectives: (i) the offender atoning or paying for the offence he or she committed, and (ii) another person standing in for the offender, and paying the price, atoning for, repairing, or restoring what the offender did wrong. It follows that we should make restitution for any sin, offence, or moral weakness we commit or exhibit. This may explain why at the Sacrament of Reconciliation the priest may counsel us to return some of the things we stole to the person we stole from or the place we stole them, and why we may be asked to say some prayers in the form of penance. This further explains why Zacchaeus (LK 19: 1 – 10) was willing on his own to make a restitution of up to four-fold of what he unlawfully took from people as a tax collector. And, for those who refuse to make restitution for the sins or offenses they have committed, and whose family (wife/husband, children, relatives, etc) benefited from the sins or offenses committed, these beneficiaries may suffer the consequences of their share in the ill-gotten loot. This, to some extent, explains the saying in scripture that God will visit the iniquity of the parents onto the third and fourth generation (cf. Num 14: 18; Exod 34: 7). However, one can make restitution on behalf of one’s parents if one knows that one’s parents committed some crimes that brought some ill gotten wealth, goods, and services that one benefited, and is still benefiting from.
During this Easter Season, let us practice restitution for our own moral weaknesses and sins and, like Jesus Christ, also practice it for the Holy Souls in Purgatory and our loved one. Three examples of restitution we can do are (1) accepting or taking responsibility for our short comings or wrong doings without giving excuses, and then proceeding to correct them or make amends for them, (2) practicing corporal and spiritual works of mercy and offering them as restitution, and (3) going for pilgrimages, doing novenas, and carrying out activities in the church that contains indulgences.
Finally, note that the constant practice of restitution vivifies the work of our hands: business, work, education, and enhances divine protection.
(Sylvester Idemudia Odia, Ph.D., VERITAS: The Official Newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Benin City, Vol. 15, No. 139, April 2024, p. 33)