Day Eight of Forty: The Virtue of Justice

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The post headings have skipped from day six to day eight.  Yep, I missed day seven because there was just too much to think about at home, including preparation for a year-long adult faith formation seminar that I'm teaching.  Rather than refuse more time with the family (which happens more than it should), I forsook the daily Lenten blog post.  Interestingly enough, that provides a perfect segue into my reflection on today's virtue.

The virtue of justice, says the wisdom of the Catholic Church, "consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor."  Justice is about stewarding the resources that God has bestowed (whether meager or in abundance) in the right way, at the right time, to the right person, so that right relationship will be maintained.  Those resources, whether time, dollars, children, the environment, or human bodies, are not ours.  It is, however, our responsibility to use them for the betterment of humanity.  In my case yesterday, blogging for another day would have deprived God and my family what was due to them: my time and my attention.  Right relationship was better maintained by prayer and fatherly presence.

Because the resources are God's, they must be viewed and distributed according to His will and His plan for human communion.  This means that we owe our first and best to Him.  After that, we must serve our families with God's gifts, followed by those in our community who will benefit.  At all times, the foremost question of justice is, "Will my action bring me and this other person into right relationship, with God and with each other?"  Sometimes, I might rather sit and peck away at a keyboard, but I always know that right relationship with God and family will only be maintained by logging off.  Maybe some of the virtuous habits about which I write will come in useful in those relationships.

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