The Virtue of Justice: Distributive Justice and the Good of Society

It may seem on first glance that commutative justice is the only form of the virtue of justice that would contribute to spiritual growth. But an important part of human life is living as a member of society. And an important part of being a disciple of Christ is to work for the perfection of society by bringing the Gospel into the heart of social life.

Distributive justice is practiced when society gives to its members what is owed to them. Now, one mistaken idea about distributive justice is that it is limited to the duties of government. The modern mind tends to equate society with government. In order to fully understand the virtue of justice and the role it plays in our spiritual growth, we need to first review what it means to be a society.

A Proper Understanding of Society

Society is made up of families. Societies are formed when one family recognizes that it cannot provide everything to its members by itself. One family reaches out to other families so that together they can help each other provide more goodness to each other than any single family could provide on its own. Governments exist to help manage societies with law and order. But they do not make up society – they serve society.

Therefore, the first place that the virtue of distributive justice is exercised is within local social structures. Societies recognize that there needs to be some organization to ensure that everyone gets a fair share of the goods of society. So they build a great variety of organized social structures to help with the distribution of social goods. These may include libraries, hospitals, fire stations, soup kitchens, marketplaces, community centers, and any number of other organizations. These social structures give individuals multiple opportunities to support the good of society and to contribute to society by getting involved. Doing so can lead to spiritual growth by getting us out of our individualistic shells. Involvement makes us aware of the needs of people around us. Cooperating with social structures gives us the power to reach out and help many more people than we could by ourselves.

The Virtue of Justice and Authority

Of course, the primacy of non-governmental social structures does not mean that the government plays no role at all in the virtue of distributive justice. Just as we need to properly understand society and the interdependence of families, we also need to understand the government as the proper use of authority.

Saint Paul tells us that all authority comes from God. God is omnipotent, all-powerful. What does this mean as an attribute of God? It actually means that God is the source of all goodness. God’s “power” is not separated from His love, as it often is in our fallen human world. God’s power always leads us to goodness. Likewise, the human authority that comes from God is the power to lead other people to what is truly good for them when they otherwise could not or would not choose that good for themselves. I often use the example of a speed limit to illustrate this. I tend to speed – not because I like to go fast but because I have a long to-do list and to me drive time is wasted time. What I am not thinking about when I’m behind the wheel is the safety of the people in my path. I need the civil authority to remind me that other people are affected by the way I drive. That’s why I’m thankful for speed limits. This is a proper use of authority – leading me to the good of safety when I am too self-absorbed to drive safely. Governments are meant to exercise this kind of authority in order to help members of society to more effectively serve each other.

The Principle of Subsidiarity

Hand-in-hand with a proper understanding of authority is the principle of subsidiarity. This principle states that the goods of society should be distributed by the lowest possible level of society. If a family can do something itself, it should have the freedom and responsibility to do so. If families cannot do something for themselves, local community organizations should give them the help they need. If the local community is unable to offer the necessary help, then the higher societal structures including the government may offer support to help them accomplish the goal. But the goal of higher levels of society, including the government, is to help the lower levels of society to function well. When governments take on the roles that are appropriate to lower levels of community organization, it violates the principle of subsidiarity.

As you can see, distributive justice does not remove responsibility from individual members of society. You and I exercise the virtue of justice by participating in community organizations that help to make the common good accessible to all members. In fact, governments and committees are incapable of exercising virtue. Only individuals can exercise virtue. As members exercise distributive justice by working within social structures to help others, we create a more just society.

Grow in the Virtues!

Too often I think we tend to see virtues as attributes that someone either naturally has or lacks, sort of like good looks. The truth is, virtues are skills to be learned, habits to be formed, muscles to be exercised. Growth in virtue is one of the main focuses of From the Abbey. Whether you’re watching an online course or working your way through a more advanced spirituality program, chances are good that you will be learning practical strategies for developing one of the core Catholic virtues that make up a “lay rule of life.” I want to invite you to take advantage of the opportunity below to get more deeply involved with From the Abbey‘s programs. I would love to help you take your next step toward holiness!

Brought to you by Jeffrey S. Arrowood at From the Abbey, dedicated to helping you rediscover the JOY of learning and living your faith so you can grow in intimacy with God.