The third of our cardinal virtues is Justice.  Most of us hear the word justice only in the news: the Department of Justice; a justice of the Supreme Court; the criminal justice system, and so on. 

But what does it mean to be personally just?  If we’re not lawyers or politicians, if we’re not officially administering justice, does the virtue of justice requiring anything of us? 

Well, the word justice comes from the Latin iustitia: A combination of ius, which means law or right, and titia which means the quality of being.  So, justice is the quality of being right or in accordance with the law.  So, anybody can be just, not just legal officials.  But that begs the question: Just, under which law?

Remember when Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den?  He obeyed all the king’s laws, except the one that forbid that he pray to God—then, Daniel disobeyed.  Did that make him unjust?  On the contrary, it made him even more just.  His punishment was an injustice.

This is because, as Saint Augustine recognized, “an unjust law is no law at all.”  It turns out, a law, like a man, can be right or wrong; in accordance with law or not.  It is why Jesus himself said that we are to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s. 

Justice—for a man or for man’s law—requires adherence, above all, to the highest law, God’s eternal law of right and wrong.   That is the only way we can be ius, that is both right…and in accordance with the law.  It is the only way to be truly just.

Have a wonderful day.