The Virtue of Justice: Key to Maximum Relationships

The Catholic spiritual life is ultimately about relationships. First is our relationship with God. We strive to cooperate with grace in order to grow toward perfection in our love for the Holy Trinity. Secondly, we are called to love our neighbor, which really means to love our brothers and sisters in the Family of God. The virtue of justice is the virtue that reminds us of our duties to other people.

Justice is the key relationship virtue on a natural level. As we exercise this virtue, we condition ourselves to cooperate with grace in order to go more deeply into the supernatural virtue of charity. That’s what makes this one of the foundational virtues of a lay Catholic spiritual life.

Our Civic Duty

The most basic principles of justice spell out the duty that we have to other people within a community. Human beings are made to live in relationships, and those relationships need to be guided by a basic rule of respect.

The virtue of justice is defined as the firm habit of giving to others what is their due. The most basic exercise of giving to others what is their due occurs in simple transactions, such as

• An honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work
• An honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay
• Paying back your debts
• Not charging exorbitant interest on debts owed to you.
• Paying a fair price for goods and services

So basically, we’re talking about treating each other honestly and fairly. But we’re also talking about seeking the common good together. The common good is the shared benefit of society. If I want to live in a community where people can be trusted, the place to start is to be a trustworthy citizen of that community. We build our community with the relationships that we form.

From the Virtue of Justice to Charity

For disciples of Jesus, the requirements of civic living really form the bare minimum of human relationships. Maximum human relationships are really marked by charity. However, the way to the perfection of charity begins with the basics of duty.  The demands of justice should spur us to ever deeper levels of conversion in our own hearts in order to improve our relationships more and more. Bit by bit the virtue of justice should lead us to selflessness, to Christ-like love.

Today, the idea of “social justice” has conflated and confused justice and charity. If charity means to “serve the poor,” why not just push for a society that serves the poor through its political structures? While fighting for a more principled and effective government is certainly part of justice, as we do our duty to society as citizens by voting and making our voices heard, we have to be careful that political action does not take the place of charity in our hearts. Having charity for the poor does not mean simply caring for their bodily needs. It means wanting all that is good for them, especially the salvation of their souls. In fact, being overly concerned in politics and institutional solutions to problems like poverty can actually move our hearts away from true charity, even though it feels like we’re doing what is right and good.

When the disciples of John the Baptist asked Jesus for a sign that He was the Messiah, Jesus said, “Go back to John and tell him all you have witnessed here . . . the poor have the good news preached to them.” True charity is a heart-to-heart connection in which you make yourself a gift to the other. Let Justice always be a path to charity, never a roadblock.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that the best place to exercise the virtue of justice is within our daily relationships. Treat every person you meet with respect, dignity, and fairness. As you grow in this virtue, you will be laying the foundation for selfless love in the virtue of charity.

Forming the Christian heart is a matter of grace and virtue. Grace is God’s presence in our hearts. We develop virtue by cooperating with grace in repeatedly striving to do what is right and good until that goodness becomes part of who we are. Helping Catholic adults to grow in virtue is the focus of From the Abbey‘s mission. I invite you to consider the opportunity below to get more involved today! Learn your faith with online classes and articles (like this one) or live your faith more deeply with online spirituality courses that teach you to develop the key spiritual virtues (such as justice). I hope you’ll take your next step in holiness with me!

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.